By Melanie Berg – Nov. 30, 2020

Pharmacelera is proud to announce today, that an agreement was reached with Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) for a collaboration. 

 Helmholtz institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), which is a branch of the HZI, will utilize PharmScreen®, a field-based high throughput virtual screening software package, to identify hit compounds with wider chemical diversity.

HZI is Germany’s largest academic institution dedicated exclusively to infection research. In line with its mission, the centre develops new strategies for the early detection, prevention, and treatment of infectious diseases. HZI researchers investigate bacterial and viral pathogens of high clinical relevance, elucidate their interactions with the host‘s immune system and explore new ways to prevent and combat infections.

“I am looking forward to a fruitful collaboration with Pharmacelera”, Dr. Mostafa Hamed, PostDoc at HIPS, Department of Drug Design and Optimization (DDOP), said. His team, led by Prof. Dr. Anna K. H. Hirsch, is working on a target-based strategy, both targets which impair vital mechanisms of bacteria, and effectively kill them, and targets interfering with pathogenicity and virulence without affecting bacterial viability. The Hirsch group applies a series of established drug discovery strategies, including structure and fragment based drug design, classical medicinal chemistry and virtual screening. 

This is where  PharmScreen® plays a key role. As the tool uses a unique and superior 3D representation of molecules based on electrostatic, steric and hydrophobic interaction fields derived from semi-empirical Quantum-Mechanics (QM) calculations. Such fields describe with high accuracy the factors that determine ligand / receptor interactions. These chemo-type agnostic descriptors allow PharmScreen® identifying candidate molecules with similar physico-chemical properties to reference compounds, and different and diverse molecular scaffolds. 

 “This agreement is extremely aligned with Pharmacelera’s strategy to work with top-notch institutions in the field of drug discovery”, Enric Gibert, Pharmacelera’s CEO, comments. “We are delighted to work with Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, a world-wide recognized research institution.” 

 

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The cell cycle research group of the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), led by Dr. Ethel Queralt, has large experience in the study of the cohesin complex for a specific application in the research of a rare disease, the Cornelia de Lange syndrome, in addition to conducting basic research on the cell cycle and mitotic output. The fact that over 10% of tumors, and especially those more aggressive and difficult to treat, show mutations in a subunit of the cohesin complex makes opening a line of research about it timely. “Making use of the synthetic lethality of mutations between different subunits of the cohesin complex causes cellular damage to the tumor tissues, while preserving the healthy tissue without any toxic effect,” says Dr. Queralt.

Through the agreement with the company Pharmacelera, the group will study, with in silico techniques, the use of the cohesin complex as a therapeutic target for difficult-to-treat cancers. The software developed by the company (PharmScreen®, among others) will be used to confirm the suitability of the cohesin complex as a therapeutic target and, secondly, to carry out selection campaigns in large virtual libraries to search for new candidate molecules.

“Before facing an experimental approach, it is essential to be able to carry out simulations that define the framework for action,” says Ethel Queralt. “Pharmacelera has developed a technology that we believe will adapt well to our objectives to carry out the program to search for new drugs with anticancer properties,” she adds.

“Pharmacelera has participated in several projects that have covered a wide range of therapeutic applications. The collaboration with the IDIBELL cell cycle research group will allow us to extend the use of our technology to difficult-to-treat cancers. We have developed tools such as PharmScreen®, designed to find and propose molecules that can become candidates for several targets, such as the cohesin complex in the present case “, points out Enric Gibert, general director of the company.

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