CRT Establishes Crystallography Facility at Birkbeck, University of London
Release issued 21st August 2007
London, UK: 21st August 2007 - Cancer Research Technology Ltd (CRT), the specialist oncology development and commercialisation company, today announces a new crystallography facility based at Birkbeck, University of London.
CRT and Birkbeck have entered an agreement that enables CRT employees to be based within the college’s School of Crystallography, part of the Birkbeck/UCL Institute of Structural Molecular Biology. They will study the structures of drug-protein complexes to aid CRT’s anticancer drug discovery projects.
CRT has already recruited Andrew Turnbull to lead the new unit. Dr Turnbull previously led a team in the X-ray crystallography group at the Structural Genomics Consortium, based at Oxford University.
The agreement with Birkbeck is part of the current expansion of CRT’s Development Laboratories, which will see the company’s number of scientific staff grow from around 45 to 90 in the next two years.
Tony Raynham, Head of Medicinal Chemistry at CRT, said: “Locating our crystallographers at Birkbeck means we can take advantage of the world-class facilities they have on site. CRT is expanding its Development Laboratories to increase the number and speed of drug discovery projects we are running. Crystallography is a new asset for us, and one which we very much look forward to making full use of.â€
Nick Keep, Reader in Structural Biology at Birkbeck, said: “Crystallography is an essential part of the drug discovery and optimisation process. We are delighted that CRT has recognised our expertise in the field and has chosen to base their crystallography facility on our site.â€
ENDS
For media enquiries please contact Michael Regnier in the Cancer Research Technology Ltd press office on 020 7061 8309 or, out of hours, the duty press officer on 07050 264059.
Notes to editors:
Cancer Research Technology
Cancer Research Technology Limited (CRT) is a specialist commercialisation and development company, which aims to develop new discoveries in cancer research for the benefit of cancer patients. CRT works closely with leading international cancer scientists and their institutes to protect intellectual property arising from their research and to establish links with commercial partners. CRT facilitates the discovery, development and marketing of new cancer therapeutics, vaccines, diagnostics and enabling technologies. CRT is wholly owned by Cancer Research UK, the largest independent funder of cancer research in the world. Further information about CRT can be found at www.CancerTechnology.com
Cancer Research UK
Together with its partners and supporters, Cancer Research UK's vision is to beat cancer. The charity carries out world-class research to improve understanding of the disease and find out how to prevent, diagnose and treat different kinds of cancer. It ensures that its findings are used to improve the lives of all cancer patients. Cancer Research UK helps people to understand cancer, the progress that is being made and the choices each person can make. The charity works in partnership with others to achieve the greatest impact in the global fight against cancer. For further information about Cancer Research UK's work or to find out how to support the charity, please call 020 7009 8820 or visit www.cancerresearchuk.org
Birkbeck, University of London
Founded in 1823, Birkbeck, University of London has an unparalleled track record of successfully teaching part-time, adult students face-to-face in the evenings. Birkbeck enables 20,000 students from diverse social and educational backgrounds to participate in a broad range of higher education. It is the only multi-faculty institution specialising in part-time higher education where the quality of the teaching is fully underpinned by research. Some 90% of Birkbeck academic staff are active in research and 80% of all research carried out is rated as being of international importance. In 2005 the College won a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher Education for research. Further information about Birkbeck can be found at http://www.bbk.ac.uk/
School of Crystallography and Institute of Structural Molecular Biology
The school of Crystallography was founded by JD Bernal, and past members of the department include Rosalind Franklin and Nobel Prize winner Aaron Klug. Today the department concentrates on structural biology, biophysics and bioinformatics. It is a key component of the Institute of Structural Molecular Biology (ISMB), which was created in July 2003 to promote Structural Biology, Proteomics, and Chemical Biology at UCL and Birkbeck.
Further information about the School of Crystallography can be found at http://www.cryst.bbk.ac.uk/ and for the Institute of Structural Molecular Biology at http://www.ismb.lon.ac.uk/
Company details
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