CytoBANK to accelerate discovery

Cytomyx, the discovery research organisation based in Cambridge in the UK, has launched CytoBANK, a new collection of biological tools developed specifically for the needs of the pharmaceutical industry. Initially, the majority of products within CytoBANK will be full-length cDNAs, which can be used for target validation, assay development, high-throughput screening and counter-screening. Many of these sequences are difficult to isolate due to their length, complexity and rarity.

At present, many companies in the pharmaceutical industry independently develop the necessary molecular tools to accelerate discovery of novel compounds active at a particular cDNA target. CytoBANK will streamline this process, says Cytomyx, enabling clients rapidly to initiate screening against any of the targets represented in CytoBANK. More than 100 important pharmaceutical targets are represented within CytoBANK, including many representatives of key compound targets such as the G-protein coupled receptors, ion channels and kinases.

Cytomyx plans to expand CytoBANK to include many recombinant proteins, validated cell lines, antibodies and other molecular tools. CytoBANK will become an important addition to the target validation stage of target selection, a current bottleneck within the pharmaceutical industry, according to Cytomyx ceo Mike Kerins.