Combining first-class science with industry expertise

The LDC consists of four departments with leading expertise in all drug discovery and development disciplines: medicinal chemistry, assay development & screening, biology and pharmacology.
The LDC project managers with many years of experience from the biopharmaceutical industry ensure that the quality of results and products complies with international standards, and that partnerships are managed in a professional manner.

Access to cutting-edge technologies

The LDC provides customized solutions for every project, working closely together with its vast academic and industrial network. In addition to the LDC’s own state-of-the-art facilities, a range of diverse technologies and resources can be accessed via prime research institutes and service providers, for example: compound libraries, high throughput screening (HTS), animal models, structural biology, bio- and cheminformatics or protein production. In addition, the LDC works closely with inventors to integrate their specific expertise and to draw on their unique tools, technologies, models, methods and materials.
Thanks to such versatile options, the LDC can support each individual project optimally, according to its specific requirements and the current stage of development.

LDC expertise in detail

 

Medicinal Chemistry (Parallel) organic synthesis Computer-aided rational drug design, cheminformatics Design of focused compound libraries Establishment of structure-activity and structure-property relationships (SAR, SPR) and pharmacophore models Hit-to-lead identification, based on biochemical or cellular active compounds Identification of active compounds Lead optimization
Assay Development & Screening Development of biochemical and cellular assays for new targets Adaption of existing assays for MTS and HTS formats Biochemical and cellular primary screening (mid-scale) Coordination of external HTS campaigns¹ Support of iterative optimization cycles in MedChem Compound logistics
Biology Cellular pharmacology Evaluation of efficacy and toxicity Mode of Action and phenotypical studies Cellular selectivity Identification of biomarkers Identification and verification of pharmacodynamic markers
Pharmacology Assessment of chemical molecules (drug-like physicochemical properties, safety and efficacy of drug candidates) Early ADME profiling In vitro ADME Screening In vivo PK/PD studies² Metabolite studies² LC-MS-based bioanalytics Coordination of in-vivo efficacy studies² Early toxicity studies²

¹ Use of partnered screening facilities and various diverse libraries, e.g., access to professional and proprietary industrial compound libraries holding more than 300,000 substances.

 

² in vivo studies only carried out in cooperation with relevant service partners.