TINTAGEL, England (October 18, 2011) – Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, today announced that the Moulder Center for Drug Discovery Research at Temple University’s School of Pharmacy has selected the company’s Maybridge screening libraries to identify compounds that might be useful in treating health problems as diverse as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer and drug dependency.
Thermo Fisher will provide the Moulder Center with a custom compound library based initially on the 14,000-strong HitFinder™ collection. This library will be used within the university as well as by its continually expanding list of academic, pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners.
The Moulder Center is led by Dr. Magid Abou-Gharbia, a highly respected scientist whose work in the drug discovery field has produced five FDA-approved therapeutics. The center conducts in-house research using its state-of-the-art laboratory facilities. These studies are currently focused on the identification of compounds targeting drug addiction and withdrawal symptoms as well as the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Each is built on a foundation of rational design that is based on “Lipinski’s Rule of Five,” which utilizes both computer aided analysis and high-throughput screening assays.
With an expanded Maybridge HitFinder library of more than 20,000 candidate molecules, the team at the Moulder Center hopes to screen a wide range of compounds. “We needed a large but manageable library that was still flexible enough to meet the needs of our drug discovery programs and those of our collaborators,” said Dr. Abou-Gharbia. “We aim to expand the already excellent HitFinder library by taking advantage of the extensive range of related compounds offered by the Maybridge service. The Maybridge experts provided exceptional technical and data support, making it easy to add the new molecules to our collection database.”
In addition to conducting its own research, the Moulder Center collaborates with many research partners, using its expertise and resources to enrich and expand their drug discovery pipelines. “One of our primary aims is to provide a conduit that helps researchers move forward from their exciting early stage research and turn their discoveries into drugs to treat disease,” said Dr. Abou-Gharbia. “Plugging this gap will help to ensure that research laboratories, especially those in the academic sector, have the support they need to move efficiently and accurately through the drug discovery process.”
The Maybridge HitFinder collection is a premier offering of drug-like screening compounds that uses an industry standard clustering algorithm to select a statistically representative sample of the full collection. All compounds have purity greater than 90 percent and have been selected to be non-reactive, ensuring fewer false positives and higher-quality results.
For further information on this product please visit www.maybridge.com.
About the Moulder Center for Drug Discovery Research
The Moulder Center for Drug Discovery Research was established in Temple University’s School of Pharmacy in 2008. The Center is located in Philadelphia, Pa., a region that has historically been the home to so many of the pharmaceutical companies that it has become the heart of pharma or biomedical research, and has earned the moniker, “Silicon Valley of biomedical research and drug discovery.” Led by its director, Dr. Magid Abou-Gharbia, the Moulder Center is a fully integrated drug discovery facility, involved in multi-disciplinary research and featuring state-of-the-art medicinal chemistry and screening laboratories, a 20,000-compound library that allows for drug screening and optimization, as well as computer-aided drug design or CADD to do virtual drug screening. The Center’s research capabilities are enhanced through its numerous internal and external collaborations and partnerships.
About Maybridge
Maybridge, a Thermo Fisher Scientific brand, is well known for highly innovative drug-like molecules and screening compounds for drug discovery and development. With products available for both lab and development scale, the Maybridge line features new heterocyclic and phenyl ring-based chemical building blocks, including a unique and expanding range of reactive intermediates. For more information about Maybridge brand products, visit www.maybridge.com or call +44 18 40 77 05 67.
About Thermo Fisher Scientific
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is the world leader in serving science. Our mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. With revenues of nearly $11 billion, we have approximately 37,000 employees and serve customers within pharmaceutical and biotech companies, hospitals and clinical diagnostic labs, universities, research institutions and government agencies, as well as in environmental and process control industries. We create value for our key stakeholders through two premier brands, Thermo Scientific and Fisher Scientific, which offer a unique combination of continuous technology development and the most convenient purchasing options. Our products and services help accelerate the pace of scientific discovery, and solve analytical challenges ranging from complex research to routine testing to field applications. Visit www.thermofisher.com
