CRAIGAVON, U.K.—University College Cork and Almac recently announced the official launch of an academic/industrial collaboration in the field of solid state chemistry.
The partnership, which is principally funded by the Science Foundation Ireland, is focused upon applying innovative new technologies to elucidate 3D molecular structures from powder X-ray data.
Through the use of current X-ray technology, it is necessary to generate a single crystal in order to extract such structural information. This is often problematic and the pharmaceutical community has been compelled to seek alternatives, the partners note.
"This collaboration brings together the complementary expertise of Almac's expertise in chemical and pharmaceutical development and solid state chemistry and UCC's expertise in the intricacies of polymorphism," notes Gareth Maguire, business development manager at Almac Sciences.
Linda McCausland, head of physical sciences at Almac, points out that the combined expertise "will be used to develop novel techniques which can advance the drug development strategies of our clients."
The program of research will be carried out between the Pharmaceutical Solids group of the Analytical and Biological Chemistry Research Facility (ABCRF) at UCC—including Anita Maguire, Simon Lawrence, Humphrey Moynihan and more than 10 postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers—and the Almac Physical Sciences group of Linda McCausland and Noel Hamill. This team is joined by postdoctoral researcher Dr. László Fábián who brings specialist expertise in powder diffraction to the project.
Gareth Maguire notes that the goals of the collaboration are "to issue joint publications for the benefit of the pharma and academic communities, and to develop new techniques that Almac can use to the benefit of its clients."
Moreover, the collaboration, which has been principally funded by the Science Foundation Ireland, is expected to have myriad academic benefits for UCC.
"The UCC/Almac collaboration is strategic to the progression of our academic goals and will be of great benefit to the students of UCC, the research community and the Irish pharmaceutical sector as a whole," notes Anita Maguire, professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at UCC and director of the ABCRF.
Ultimately, Gareth Maguire notes that success will be measured by the number of joint publications the teams produce.
The partnership fits with the gradual expansion of the contract solid state chemistry services business that Almac Group launched in October 2008 through its Almac Sciences division.
Almac also has something of a track record of working with academic institutions to access novel technologies having recently partnered with Northern Ireland's Queen's University Belfast to establish an "oncology hub."
Almac is a privately owned organization with more than 30 years experience, and it provides integrated development solutions to over 600 customers worldwide including all the world leaders in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors.
The company has over 2,600 employees and is headquartered in Craigavon, Northern Ireland, where it was awarded Business of the Year 2009. U.S. operations are based in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and California. Construction of the company's new $120 million North American Headquarters in Pennsylvania started in July 2008 and will be completed later this year.
The partnership, which is principally funded by the Science Foundation Ireland, is focused upon applying innovative new technologies to elucidate 3D molecular structures from powder X-ray data.
Through the use of current X-ray technology, it is necessary to generate a single crystal in order to extract such structural information. This is often problematic and the pharmaceutical community has been compelled to seek alternatives, the partners note.
"This collaboration brings together the complementary expertise of Almac's expertise in chemical and pharmaceutical development and solid state chemistry and UCC's expertise in the intricacies of polymorphism," notes Gareth Maguire, business development manager at Almac Sciences.
Linda McCausland, head of physical sciences at Almac, points out that the combined expertise "will be used to develop novel techniques which can advance the drug development strategies of our clients."
The program of research will be carried out between the Pharmaceutical Solids group of the Analytical and Biological Chemistry Research Facility (ABCRF) at UCC—including Anita Maguire, Simon Lawrence, Humphrey Moynihan and more than 10 postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers—and the Almac Physical Sciences group of Linda McCausland and Noel Hamill. This team is joined by postdoctoral researcher Dr. László Fábián who brings specialist expertise in powder diffraction to the project.
Gareth Maguire notes that the goals of the collaboration are "to issue joint publications for the benefit of the pharma and academic communities, and to develop new techniques that Almac can use to the benefit of its clients."
Moreover, the collaboration, which has been principally funded by the Science Foundation Ireland, is expected to have myriad academic benefits for UCC.
"The UCC/Almac collaboration is strategic to the progression of our academic goals and will be of great benefit to the students of UCC, the research community and the Irish pharmaceutical sector as a whole," notes Anita Maguire, professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at UCC and director of the ABCRF.
Ultimately, Gareth Maguire notes that success will be measured by the number of joint publications the teams produce.
The partnership fits with the gradual expansion of the contract solid state chemistry services business that Almac Group launched in October 2008 through its Almac Sciences division.
Almac also has something of a track record of working with academic institutions to access novel technologies having recently partnered with Northern Ireland's Queen's University Belfast to establish an "oncology hub."
Almac is a privately owned organization with more than 30 years experience, and it provides integrated development solutions to over 600 customers worldwide including all the world leaders in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors.
The company has over 2,600 employees and is headquartered in Craigavon, Northern Ireland, where it was awarded Business of the Year 2009. U.S. operations are based in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and California. Construction of the company's new $120 million North American Headquarters in Pennsylvania started in July 2008 and will be completed later this year.
