News Overview

leadXpro about possibilities of new XFEL for applied research

6.10.17

Biotech startup leadXpro AG, at home at PARK INNOVAARE, applies serial crystallography among many other methods for structure-based drug design. It recently contributed to a publication in the multidisciplinary scientific Nature Journal.


In partnership with some of the world’s leading universities and research centers in drug discovery, leadXpro AG has demonstrated that serial millisecond crystallography at a synchrotron beamline (Swiss Light Source (SLS), Villigen, Switzerland) enables the structure determination of membrane proteins in a complex with drug candidates when performed at room temperature.

Room-temperature data collection is becoming increasingly important in the elucidation of protein dynamics. A promising solution for determining challenging structures, proposed in the article, also makes it possible to minimize radiation damage, which has always limited feasibility and resolution.

Another article in Nature Methods announces that the European X-ray free-electron laser (EuXFEL), the world’s largest X-ray laser, was launched 1 September 2017 after 15 years of development, construction, and testing. EuXFEL is expected to open up completely new research opportunities for scientists and industrial users. In this article, Michael Hennig, CEO of leadXpro AG, refers to the initiation of the SwissFEL. At PARK INNOVAARE, his team is currently preparing for their first experiments, offering applied research aimed at the discovery of better drug compounds.