Astellas, KEK deal
Astellas partnered with High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) to use synchrotron x-ray crystallography to discover drugs for neglected tropical diseases. The partners will design pharmaceuticals based on the 3-D structure of proteins for leishmaniasis, Chagas disease and African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness). The first phase of research will identify inhibitors of parasitic protozoan proteins by studying the proteins' 3-D structures using synchrotron X-ray crystallography. The second phase consists of structural analysis of inhibitor-protein complex. KEK will use its crystallization robots and beamlines for the structural analysis. Beamlines are equipment that extracts synchrotron radiation to measure specific wavelengths of light. The partners could not be reached for details. ...