Laboratory Automation
It's surprising how much pharmaceutical research to date has been more art than science. Computing power is still a long way off predicting the properties of proteins and cells from their DNA, so until then the more research that can be accelerated by automation (e.g. lab robots, lab-on-chip) the better.
And this is being driven by the big pharma companies who can't afford the failure rate at late stage drug development, or worse after release which can result in multi-billion law suits. I attended an excellenty talk by the chief scientific office for GE Healthcare recently and they are mass producing stem cell lines, and the machinery to test them, so that drugs can be tested for cardio-toxicity much earlier on in the development process.
Resources
Shionogi
- Japanese pharmaceutical company best known for developing Crestor.
Celgene
- Company developing therapies for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases.
Emulate, Inc.
- Company creating living platforms that emulate the complexities of human biology.
ImmBio
- Company developing next-generation vaccines against infectious diseases.
Eidos Therapeutics
- Biotech company developing novel, genetically targeted therapies to improve the lives of patients.
AbbVie
- Pharmaceutical research and development.
Araim Pharmaceuticals
- Bbiotechnology company that offers technology to address injuries and chronic diseases.
AstraZeneca
- Pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company that develops innovative drugs.
MAIA Biotechnology
- Company developing new drugs to help people with cancer.
Retrotope
- Drug discovery company focused on degenerative diseases.
Laboratory Automation Blog Posts
Laboratory Automation - only the white coats remain
24-Apr-2015
Recent News
COVID-19 advanced testing lab created by UC Berkeley scientists
University of California, Berkeley - 30-Mar-2020
In response to mass testing needs, they employ robotics and automation for accuracy and speed
Read more...Importance of AI in drug discovery
Select Science - 01-Oct-2019
Automation eliminates manual operation and leaves no room for errors
Read more...Robot revolutionises study of new molecules
Independent - 18-Jul-2018
This software test many chemical reactions simultaneously and may lead to faster drug discovery
Read more...
