Cell, Protein and Structural Sciences (CPSS)

This capability adds value to lead generation by providing reagents and structural and mechanistic information to drug design projects. The key activities are:

• Provision of cells and purified proteins for drug discovery projects
• Determination of the structure of target proteins by X-ray crystallography, supporting rational drug design approaches
• Determination of structures of compounds bound to target proteins, allowing project teams to understand the atomic details of the interactions made by the lead compounds and enabling the search for improvements.
• Measurement of the binding and affinity of compounds to target proteins by biophysical approaches such as surface plasmon resonance, nuclear magnetic resonance (nmr), calorimetry and thermal denaturation.
• Screening of drug targets with fragments of compounds using nmr, X-ray crystallography, or other biophysical methods to generate novel potential lead compounds
• Strategic initiatives to broaden the scope of what is currently achievable, for example structural studies of membrane proteins.

There are two CPSS departments in DECS, one in Sweden and one in the UK, each supporting approximately half of the drug design projects at AstraZeneca.