The Rosalind Franklin Institute (the Franklin) have embarked on a new collaboration with global biopharmaceutical leader, MSD (tradename of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, N.J., USA).
Together, researchers will look at cell regulation and how malfunctioning of specific cell regulation processes are implicated in neurodegenerative conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease.
The Franklin develops new technologies to support life sciences and healthcare research, funded through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research council, part of UK Research and Innovation.
This collaboration will leverage the Franklin’s unique instrumentation and expertise in cryo electron tomography (cryoET). CryoET is a technique by which a molecular CT scan is taken of the inside of cells to reconstruct 3D images at nanometre scale.
“Until now, structure-based drug design has relied on studying targets purified and removed from the cellular context,” said Dr Sandra B. Gabelli, Executive Director and Head of Protein and Structural Chemistry at MSD Research Laboratories. “With cryoET, we want to explore the next frontier of drug discovery by visualizing the drug targets in their native cellular context.”
The Franklin team have been developing this technology to improve the image resolution that can be achieved and increase the throughput of cellular samples. They have also developed the technique so it may be applied for imaging larger samples, so that whole cells or tissues of interest can be visualized. The technology development has been carried out in collaboration with Thermo Fisher Scientific and is funded by Wellcome.
Dr Michael Grange, Group leader in Tomography at the Rosalind Franklin Institute, explained why this collaboration is important to the Franklin:
“It’s imperative to work with industry to advance the technologies we are developing here at the Franklin, and we are very excited that MSD is keen to be part of our journey. One of our core values is utility – we want to develop technologies that people want to use to achieve their own research goals, both academics and industry partners.
Cryogenic tomography (CryoET) is a relatively new technique with a high barrier to entry. We’re trying to widen the applications and use. So, for us, this collaboration represents an opportunity to combine our technologies with MSD’s drug discovery expertise to explore cell regulation of neurodegenerative disease processes at the cellular level.”
Dr Darren McKerrecher, Executive Director and Head of London Discovery Chemistry at MSD Research Laboratories, said:
“Enhanced cellular visualization has the potential to enable a better understanding of underlying cell biology and help inform the pursuit of novel therapeutic mechanisms. We look forward to collaborating with the Rosalind Franklin Institute team and applying their capabilities and expertise in cryo electron tomography as we work to characterize new targets in drug discovery.”