Huntsville, Ala. -HudsonAlpha resident associate company iXpressGenes has expanded its laboratory contract services to include ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay), protein expression and purification, protein crystallization, and enzyme development. Customers have encouraged these new offerings because biotech and pharma R&D need quick access to deep expertise in protein science to validate experiments.
ELISA is an extremely effective quantitative research and diagnostic measurement of specific antigens in a liquid sample. The assay can be used to screen for potential disease biomarkers in saliva, urine or blood to create new diagnostic tests.
Protein expression and purification is useful for geneticists, who may need proteins to be synthesized and characterized in order to further explore the effect of gene variants in disease causation. Crystallization and characterization can be used to determine specific structural or functional effects of gene sequence changes.
“Enzyme engineering has become a critical issue in production cost management and process optimization. Our new lab services allow us to share our expertise in enzyme alternatives, especially in the area of thermostability, with both researchers and industry,” said Anuj Singhal, Protein Services Lab manager. Singhal’s background is in optimized protein production and enzyme engineering.
iXpressGenes is well-known in the protein crystal growth field because of its novel patented techniques in finding crystal leads and in using microgravity conditions to grow large crystals for neutron diffraction, leading to highly precise structural data used in drug discovery. Proteins must be crystallized in order to determine their structure; a critical step in designing drugs that use proteins to transport the drug through the cell wall. Current customers of the new lab include academic research labs, biotech companies and pharma research, including companies at HudsonAlpha, who receive very fast response times and hand delivered results.
About HudsonAlpha: HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology is a nonprofit institute dedicated to innovating in the field of genomic technology and sciences across a spectrum of biological challenges. Founded in 2008, its mission is four-fold: sparking scientific discoveries that can impact human health and well-being; bringing genomic medicine into clinical care; fostering biotech entrepreneurship; and encouraging the creation of a genomics-literate workforce and society. The HudsonAlpha biotechnology campus consists of 152 acres nestled within Cummings Research Park, the nation’s second largest research park. Designed to be a hothouse of biotech economic development, HudsonAlpha’s state-of-the-art facilities co-locate nonprofit scientific researchers with entrepreneurs and educators. The relationships formed on the HudsonAlpha campus encourage collaborations that produce advances in medicine and agriculture. Under the leadership of Dr. Richard M. Myers, a key collaborator on the Human Genome Project, HudsonAlpha has become a national and international leader in genetics and genomics research and biotech education, and includes 29 diverse biotech companies on campus. To learn more about HudsonAlpha, visit: http://hudsonalpha.org/.
HudsonAlpha Media Contact:
Margetta Thomas
256-327-0425
mthomas@hudsonalpha.org
