Graffinity and EMBL given €900K joint grant for drug discovery

Development grant

Structure-based drug discovery specialist Graffinity GmbH and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) have won €900,000 from the German Ministry of Research and Education to apply their fragment- and structure-based technologies to discover hits against protein–protein-interaction drug targets.

Over the course of the next two years the two will use their complementary technologies for the discovery of novel, selective small molecule leads, which will be identified by fragment based screening and then optimised using structure-based drug design,

Graffinity has developed a surface-plasmon-resonance-based fragment screening platform, with which it will identify suitable fragments. EMBL will then apply nuclear magnetic resonance and X-ray crystallography to optimise these into leads.

“We are looking forward to working with EMBL on this exciting multi-target project. The grant funding gives us the means to collaborate on a broader basis and to demonstrate Graffinity’s advanced fragment screening capabilities with a target-rich, world class academic partner,” said Kristina Schmidt, CEO of Graffinity.