The Industrial Macromolecular Crystallography Association (IMCA), which operates the IMCA Collaborative Access Team (IMCA-CAT) facility at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory, announced that Janssen Research & Development, LLC, has joined IMCA, an association of pharmaceutical companies that leverages the power of high-energy X- rays to accelerate structural biology research for drug discovery. Operating for more than 25 years, IMCA is managed by the Hauptman- Woodward Medical Research Institute (HWI), an international leader in structural biology.
Complementing HWI’s commitment to finding the fundamental cause of many diseases, the IMCA-CAT research facility aims to accelerate drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industry. Through synchrotron-based structural biology research, IMCA-CAT, located at Sector 17 of the Advanced Photon Source, has been instrumental in the development of many of today’s pharmaceuticals.
“IMCA is unique, recognized world-wide for the collaborative approach of our member pharmaceutical companies in meeting their common need for structural biology data,” said Dr. Lisa J. Keefe, IMCA-CAT Director and Vice President for Advancing Therapeutics at HWI. “Our research facility provides exceptional quality molecular structure data at ultra-high throughput rates. With Janssen joining IMCA, the potential for our collective impact on structural biology technology development and drug development is limitless.”
The IMCA-CAT research facility is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and designed for experiments using the methodology of macromolecular crystallography for determining the three-dimensional molecular structures of drug candidates interacting with their targets. HWI’s investigators utilize this powerful technique in their research on cancer and studies on the foundations of diseases. IMCA-CAT pharmaceutical members benefit from guaranteed, frequent, and routine access to the facility for X-ray diffraction data collection. In addition to Janssen, other IMCA-CAT pharmaceutical member companies are AbbVie, Bristol- Myers Squibb, Merck, Novartis and Pfizer.
The IMCA-CAT facility and team have played an active role in the response to the global novel coronavirus pandemic. The facility has remained fully operational to support important COVID-19-related research and critical pharmaceutical research being done by its members and other partners.
IMCA and its pharmaceutical members work to drive innovation and sustain cutting-edge operations, thereby distinguishing the IMCA-CAT as a cost-effective and world-class facility for pharmaceutical research. In addition to its member companies, the IMCA-CAT facility is available to all researchers in structural biology to collect X-ray diffraction data on macromolecules. For additional information, visit www.imca-cat.org.
The U.S. Department of Energy's APS is one of the world’s most productive x-ray light source facilities. Each year, the APS provides high-brightness x-ray beams to a diverse community of more than 5,000 researchers in materials science, chemistry, condensed matter physics, the life and environmental sciences, and applied research. Researchers using the APS produce over 2,000 publications each year detailing impactful discoveries, and solve more vital biological protein structures than users of any other x-ray light source research facility. APS x-rays are ideally suited for explorations of materials and biological structures; elemental distribution; chemical, magnetic, electronic states; and a wide range of technologically important engineering systems from batteries to fuel injector sprays, all of which are the foundations of our nation’s economic, technological, and physical well-being.
Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC, for the U.S. DOE Office of Science.
The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit the Office of Science website.