Leading the Revolution in Cryo-EM-enabled Drug Discovery
BOSTON – (June 25, 2020) – NanoImaging Services, Inc. (NIS), specialists in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with a vision to make cryo-EM workflows accessible to all, today announced the opening of a new facility in Boston. NIS is expanding with new services and locations to support its growing customer base requiring cryo-EM for drug discovery and vaccine development applications. COVID-19 projects are receiving prioritization.
“For more than a decade, we’ve applied our scientific leadership and focus to drive the substantial expansion of our state-of-the-art facilities as part of our goal to become the largest industrial cryo-EM facility in the world. Our Boston facility enables us to build on our commitment to advancing cryo-EM technology and its access for our clients to improve and accelerate drug design and development,” said Clint Potter, founder and CEO of NanoImaging Services. “By enabling local sample preparation and screening, NanoImaging Services has eliminated one of the biggest obstacles for cryo-EM researchers – shipping sensitive proteins and removing the freeze/thaw step. Local sample preparation coupled with fast turnaround screening services, allows researchers to progress their projects more quickly and with greater success in a cost-efficient manner.”
The rapid development in cryo-EM technology, leading to the “resolution revolution,” has established cryo-EM as an essential tool for structure-based drug discovery. It is allowing scientists to visualize proteins and their complexes at atomic resolutions, define target sites and design more effective medicines faster. The future impact on drug discovery - process, timeline and cost - is expected to be significant.
The new facility is designed to host clients to learn cryo-EM techniques and develop their own cryo-EM workflows. The dedicated lab space will house up to three state-of-the-art Thermo Scientific Glacios Cryo-TEM microscopes and equipment to support local sample screening, preparation and analysis. In addition, a high-speed dedicated network will connect directly to the San Diego headquarters and our Thermo Scientific Krios Cryo-TEM microscopes for high-resolution data acquisition. The first Glacios instrument was commissioned this month and is currently accepting client samples.
“The launch of the NanoImaging Services Boston site brings critical cryo-EM capabilities to the East Coast. The site will have a significant impact and support the growing community of private companies using cryo-EM as part of their drug discovery programs,” said Holly Souter, Silicon Therapeutics. “This will be especially enabling to smaller companies that aren't able to invest in building their own cryo-EM facilities, and who can benefit from the power of this leading technology, heightened capacity and expertise within NanoImaging Services.”
The infrastructure, expertise and flexible service models minimizes many barriers to entry for industry groups of all sizes to participate in the “resolution revolution.” The availability of comprehensive technical and scientific support at a single core location, also facilitates cross-functional collaboration between structural biology and analytical groups to leverage TEM and cryoTEM methods in support of antibody development, virus and vaccine studies, and characterization of drug and delivery vehicles.
Since acquiring its first Krios Cryo-TEM microscope in 2018, NanoImaging Services has grown rapidly. Its cryo-EM and negative stain workflows are used by leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostics companies, as well as by academic researchers worldwide.
The new facility is located in Woburn MA, providing local access to the fastest growing biotech hub in the world. With flexible workflows designed to support the needs of pharma and biotech clients, NIS infrastructure and expertise will provide affordable, reliable and rapid solutions to support discovery and development.
In parallel, the company is hosted a virtual seminar series and interactive discussion groups with leading scientists on cryo-EM in drug discovery.
About NanoImaging Services
NanoImaging Services, Inc. launched in 2007 to provide imaging services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and nanotechnology communities. We have since built a client-focused organization with a reputation for expertise, reliability and collaboration. NIS is committed to expanding our service capacity through microscope acquisition, workflow automation, recruitment and training of top talent, and development of new service offerings. Our state-of-the-art facilities include a range of electron microscopes, sample preparation equipment and computational infrastructure to support structural biology, nanoparticle characterization and chemistry workflows. With recent acquisitions, NIS has become the largest and most comprehensive provider of TEM, cryo-EM and microED services to the industrial life science market. For more information, visit: www.nanoimagingservices.com.
