Areas of Expertise
Our specialities encompass bio marker discovery, target discovery, target validation, drug design and development, phenotypic screening and clinical research.
Our researchers combine a high degree of skill in various aspects of drug discovery research with creativity and use of state-of-the-art instrumentation and facilities to deliver results.
Small Molecule Synthesis and Medicinal Chemistry
Edinburgh Drug Discovery’s medicinal chemists are experts in small molecule synthesis. They specialise in ligand-based drug design and strategically combine this with phenotypic screening to produce highly potent, exquisitely selective compounds with a high degree of drug-like character.
Our chemists have received acclaim for their design of palladium-activated prodrugs, using biorthogonal chemistry. These revolutionary prodrugs potentially allow selective targeting of drugs to specific sites of action.
Learn more about our expertise in small molecule synthesis and medicinal chemistry.
Target-Based Screening, Protein Expression and Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics
Edinburgh Drug Discovery’s core drug development team are skilled in the use of a variety of methods for the production of recombinant protein for target-based high throughput drug screening. The team is also proficient in achieving expression of recombinant target protein in a variety of cell types for cell-based assays.
With its suite of drug metabolism and pharmacokinetic assays, including rodent-based assessment of the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of compounds, the team can quickly deliver results contributing to optimisation of lead compounds.
Cellular Pharmacology and Phenotypic Profiling
Our researchers at Edinburgh Drug Discovery also develop novel assays across disease areas and implement robust cell-based, high throughput, high content phenotypic screens. These screens couple high content imaging with image informatics to deliver highly quantifiable results.
Our high throughput screening efforts are ably supported by a range of high throughput liquid handling and microscopy instrumentation as well as several high quality compound libraries of novel chemical entities, reference compounds and FDA approved drugs. Our high throughput, antibody based proteomics platforms (reverse phase protein microarrays) enable rapid profiling of compound mechanism of action as well as off target activities and support lead compound optimisation.
Learn more about our expertise in cellular pharmacology and phenotypic profiling.