FEI Partners with Five Pharmaceutical Companies, the Medical Research Council and the University of Cambridge to form Cryo-EM Research Consortium
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
Organizations involved in the Cambridge Pharmaceutical Cryo-EM Research
Consortium will share access to cryo-electron microscopy equipment and methods
and will collaborate on developing the technology to benefit pharmaceutical drug
discovery research.
HILLSBORO, Ore. and LONDON, April 04, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FEI (NASDAQ:FEIC)
has partnered with five pharmaceutical companies: Astex Pharmaceuticals,
AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Heptares Therapeutics, and UCB; the Medical
Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (MRC-LMB); and the University
of Cambridge's Nanoscience Centre, to form the "Cambridge Pharmaceutical Cryo-EM
Consortium," which is the first of its kind worldwide. As part of the three-year
agreement, FEI will provide sample preparation and data collection services on a
Titan Krios(TM) cryo-transmission electron microscope (cryo-EM) to the
consortium companies for early-stage drug discovery research.
The five companies involved in the consortium will share access to the
microscope with colleagues from the MRC-LMB and the University of Cambridge in
return for expert guidance on the use of cryo-EM technology. FEI's Titan Krios
will be installed at the Nanoscience Centre in May.
Richard Henderson, pioneer in the field of cryo-EM at MRC-LMB, states, "It is
delightful to know that the development of cryo-EM, which many people have
worked on for many years, has now reached mainstream structural biology. It is
particularly satisfying that pharmaceutical companies are keen to evaluate the
approach for drug development."
Prof. Sir Mark Welland, director of the Nanoscience Centre, said, "This is a
great opportunity for researchers across the University to access a state-of-
the-art microscope."
Cryo-EM has quickly become one of the most important techniques used by
structural biologists today to obtain molecular-scale three-dimensional (3D)
information about protein structures. When combined with traditional methods for
structure determination, such as x-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic
resonance spectroscopy, the resulting models can reveal the structure of
complex, dynamic molecular assemblies down to the scale of individual atoms. The
consortium's Titan Krios will use the Relion software package, developed by
Sjors Scheres at MRC-LMB, to process the image data into a visual 3D model that
helps researchers see and understand the structure and function of the protein.
"Cryo-EM 3D models allow us to see and understand the workings of protein-based
molecular machines that we could not analyze before because they were too large
and complex or were resistant to the preparations required for other
techniques," states Peter Fruhstorfer, vice president and general manager of the
Life Sciences business, FEI. "The technique was rapidly adopted by leading
academic researchers and is now finding its way into early stage discovery and
development in the pharmaceutical industry."
Fruhstorfer adds, "In addition to installing the Titan Krios cryo-EM system, our
contribution to the consortium includes providing an application scientist that
will work with the participating companies to ensure a smooth workflow
throughout, from sample preparation to data collection and data processing, with
a special focus on creating a standardized and robust single-particle analysis
workflow."
For more information about cryo-EM and the Cambridge Pharmaceutical Cryo-EM
Consortium, contactFEI at contactus(at)fei.com.
About FEI
FEI Company (Nasdaq:FEIC) designs, manufactures and supports a broad range of
high-performance microscopy workflow solutions that provide images and answers
at the micro-, nano- and picometer scales. Its innovation and leadership enable
customers in industry and science to increase productivity and make breakthrough
discoveries. Headquartered in Hillsboro, Ore., USA, FEI has over 2,800 employees
and sales and service operations in more than 50 countries around the world.
More information can be found at: www.fei.com.
About the Cambridge University Nanoscience Centre
The Nanoscience Centre provides open access to over 300 researchers from a
variety of University Departments to the nanofabrication and characterisation
facilities housed in a combination of Clean Rooms and low noise laboratories.
The main activity in the building is making individual devices or structures
which are only a few nanometres in size and then measuring how they work. Office
space is primarily home to the Department of Engineering's Nanoscience Group,
technical and administrative staff and members of other research groups who
require long term access to facilities.www.nanoscience.cam.ac.uk
FEI Safe Harbor Statement
This news release contains forward-looking statements that include statements
regarding the performance capabilities and benefits of the Titan Krios TEM and
cryo-EM solution. Factors that could affect these forward-looking statements
include but are not limited to our ability to manufacture, ship, deliver and
install the tools, solutions or software as expected; failure of the product or
technology to perform as expected; unexpected technology problems and
challenges; changes to the technology; the inability of FEI, its suppliers or
project partners to make the technological advances required for the technology
to achieve anticipated results; and the inability of the customer to deploy the
tools or develop and deploy the expected new applications. Please also refer to
our Form 10-K, Forms 10-Q, Forms 8-K and other filings with the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission for additional information on these factors and other
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-
looking statements. FEI assumes no duty to update forward-looking statements.
For more information contact:
Sandy Fewkes (media contact)
MindWrite Communications, Inc.
+1 408 224 4024
sandy(at)mind-write.com
FEI
Jason Willey (investors and analysts)
Sr. Director, Investor Relations & Corporate Development
+1 503 726 2533
jason.willey(at)fei.com
This announcement is distributed by GlobeNewswire on behalf of
GlobeNewswire clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and
other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and
originality of the information contained therein.
Source: FEI Company via GlobeNewswire
[HUG#1999963]
Datum: 04.04.2016 - 12:05 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
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