Sygnature Discovery, a leading provider of integrated drug
discovery services to the pharmaceutical industry, has today
provided an up-date on its new Bioscience group. The team was
established in August 2011 and is already involved in a number of
drug discovery activities for clients, including integrated
discovery projects and in vitro biology-only projects.
"Our Bioscience group is now fully-operational and already
contributing to Sygnature's revenue stream," commented Dr Simon
Hirst, Chief Executive Officer. "We have medicinal chemists and
bioscientists working side-by-side in the same laboratory and this
is encouraging close scientific interaction and optimal
communication. Having the ability to undertake medicinal chemistry
and in vitro biology/screening 'under one roof' is already
benefiting Sygnature's clients by facilitating efficient
design/make/test cycles during integrated drug discovery projects.
This is so important for delivering successful outcomes to
discovery programmes. Further integrated projects will start in the
near future."
Dr John Unitt, Head of Bioscience at Sygnature Discovery stated,
"I am delighted to have joined Sygnature to establish the
Bioscience group. Having gained over 20 years of drug discovery
experience at AstraZeneca R&D Charnwood, working on a broad
range of projects from target identification to lead optimisation,
I am pleased to bring this expertise to Sygnature for the benefit
of clients. With the closure of Charnwood in July 2011, I was able
to bring my team of experienced bioscientists with me to Sygnature.
This has meant that we were able to set-up our in vitro
biology/screening laboratory quickly and efficiently. We have the
expertise to design complete screening cascades to support
Sygnature's medicinal chemistry activities and utilise
industry-standard screening technologies to undertake a wide range
of biochemical and cellular assays. It is an added bonus to be
working alongside some former AstraZeneca medicinal chemistry
colleagues who joined Sygnature earlier this year."