The agreement gives Metrion access to Assay.Works extensive knowledge of HTS and assay validation technologies, including 384 well format screening and compound handling facilities, a library of 74,000 small molecules and a catalogue of ‘assay.ready’ cell lines for use in primary screening and selectivity assays.
Assay.Works clients will in turn be able to access Metrion’s extensive ion channel target know-how, electrophysiology based assay services, CiPA compliant cardiac safety profiling, and expanding range of phenotypic and translational assays in the cardiac and neuroscience fields.
HTS approaches to drug discovery can be valuable when novel starting points for chemistry are not readily available or when a rapid screen of a knowledge-based selection of compounds is required. Combining HTS with high quality compound libraries facilitates the identification of unique and tractable starting points for drug discovery programmes. Plate-based selectivity assays are also useful adjuncts to electrophysiology-based profiling, and can be added where appropriate in the screening cascade.
Dr Andrew Southan, Head of Commercial Operations at Metrion Biosciences said: “We look forward to working with the Assay.Works team, who share Metrion’s collaborative approach to client programmes. Providing access to Assay.Works’ outstanding expertise in plate-based assay development and optimisation, this partnership enables Metrion to offer clients ion channel drug discovery programmes starting at the HTS stage.”
Dr Ralf Schwandner, Founder and CEO, Assay.Works, commented: “We are excited to partner with the exceptional team of scientists at Metrion Biosciences. Having worked on multiple ion channel programs, we understand the challenge of generating meaningful and reproducible results at a reasonable throughput for this important drug target class. Accessing Metrion Biosciences' expertise in ion channel research and electrophysiology will allow us to offer our clients a broad range of assay services for ion channel drug discovery.”
About Metrion Biosciences
Metrion Biosciences is a specialist ion-channel contract research organisation and drug discovery business. The Company provides customers with access to a range of high quality ion channel assays on a fee-for-service or collaboration basis. Metrion Biosciences’ specialist ion channel expertise includes an industry leading panel of in vitro cardiac ion channel safety assays, translational native cell and phenotypic assays for neurological and cardiotoxicity testing, and a range of other ion channel screening services such as cell line development and optimisation. Metrion Biosciences is able to provide tailored assay formats, data analysis and reporting solutions, effective project management and quality assured data packages.
For more information, see: www.metrionbiosciences.com
About Assay.Works
Assay.Works is a contract research organization (CRO) providing research services to pharmaceutical/biotech companies and academic organizations in form of fee-for-service work.
Our mission is to accelerate our partner's research programs by developing and executing predictive and scalable assays to quantify the bioactivity of novel chemical and biological entities. We combine scientific rigor with our domain expertise in laboratory automation, informatics, and industry best practices to turn challenging assays into quantitative, reproducible results.
Assay.Works service portfolio includes Assay Development, Cell Line Engineering and Production of Cellular Reagents, Bioactivity Assessments, Quantitative Biology Applications, and High-Throughput Screening (HTS).
For more information, see: www.assay.works
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Media and trade contacts
Katie Odgaard
Zyme Communications
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel: +44 (0)7787 502 947
Andrew Southan PhD
Head of Commercial Operations, Metrion Biosciences
E-mail: [email protected]
Johannes Knop PhD (media contact)
COO, Assay.Works GmbH
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel: +49 (941) 2000 1243
Ralf Schwandner PhD (media contact)
CEO, Assay.Works GmbH
E-mail: [email protected]
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