Cutting edge technology for drug discovery and biology research

Funding towards major equipment for structural biology studies (ITC/NMR/XRD)

The BHF is helping researchers at the University of Nottingham lead the way in drug discovery by contributing £235,111 towards a new state-of-the-art advanced chemical and biomolecular characterisation facility in the Nottingham Centre for Biomolecular Sciences. This equipment will enable the researchers to develop new medicines to treat heart and circulatory disease and support the interface between chemistry and biology in several research areas, including drug discovery and regenerative medicine. Characterisation of proteins and small molecules is a critical part of the research strategy for the Centre for Biomolecular Sciences, which is the University of Nottingham’s flagship research building. Because it will be used by researchers from different schools, the facility will encourage researchers from across the university to collaborate with each other. It will enable a multi-disciplinary range of research avenues and other BHF funded programmes to be pursued. A variety of new equipment will be housed in the new facility. Isothermal titration calorimetry allows researchers to screen small molecules for drug discovery. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) will enable the researchers to define the chemical structure of new small molecules. The X-ray diffractometer can characterise crystals generated from crystallisation experiments, used to study the structure of molecules and proteins. This funding is helping to provide essential equipment for the Nottingham researchers to study heart and circulatory disease.