Structural GenomiX to build X-ray facility using Argonne's Advanced Photon Source
Structural GenomiX is developing a high throughput X-ray crystallography platform to solve the structures of potential drug targets. When completed, this new facility will be the most advanced of its kind, providing the capacity to outstrip the current annual worldwide production of protein structures. The company will use the X-rays focused by the beamline to produce images of thousands of proteins and potential drug targets with atomic-level precision.
SGX crystals
"Today's agreement is recognition that the Department of Energy's world class facilities are essential to advancing the next phase of genomics research," said Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson, who attended the signing. "By making the Energy Department's Advanced Photon Source available to the private sector we are helping to speed the development of new pharmaceuticals to benefit the entire Nation. This follows up on President Clinton's recent call for increased public-private cooperation in biotechnology and genomics research."
"Dedicated beam time is absolutely necessary for what SGX plans to do," said Wayne Hendrickson, a founder of SGX and a leading X-ray crystallographer. "This facility will give SGX a set of beamlines for X-ray crystallography that are unsurpassed anywhere in the world. It is exciting to see recent technical advances being implemented so effectively."
"In this field, which holds such huge promise for benefits to mankind, it is a real challenge to move from genome sequencing to accurate high-throughput three-dimensional protein structures," says David Moncton, Argonne's associate laboratory director responsible for the Advanced Photon Source.
"Cooperation, rather than competition, between key public resources like the APS and private resources represented by SGX will enable structures to be solved with unprecedented speed."
The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory conducts basic and applied scientific research across a wide spectrum of disciplines, ranging from high-energy physics to materials science and biotechnology. Argonne also works closely with industry—over 600 companies in the last decade alone—to help advance America's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for the future. Argonne is operated by the University of Chicago as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's national laboratory system. The Advanced Photon Source is funded by the DOE Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences.
SGX is a high-throughput protein structure determination company, solving structures of interest to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agriculture, and industrial enzyme companies. Access to these structures is available through strategic partnerships and subscription to an annotated database. SGX currently employs 45 people and occupies 35,000 square feet of laboratory and office space.
For more information: Tim Harris, President and CEO, Structural GenomiX, 10505 Roselle St., San Diego, CA 92121. Tel: 858-558-4850. Fax: 858-558-4859. Email: tim@stromix.com.
Edited by Laura DeFrancesco
Managing Editor, Bioresearch Online