In the second of a three-part series looking at cardiac safety testing in early drug discovery, Dr Michael Morton of ApconiX considers the CiPA initiative and how its integrated approach sits alongside existing strategies. What is the CiPA initiative and what does it mean for drug discovery? In the first blog, we outlined the background [...]
ApconiX welcomes Charlotte North to the team. Charlotte graduated from Sheffield University in July with a degree in Biomedical Sciences and is working in the ApconiX Ion Channel Laboratory as an industry placement student this month. Charlotte has been spending her time, since graduating, exploring the many opportunities the pharmaceutical industry can offer. She is [...]
Phumzile Sikakana talks about ApconiX’s fundraising for 2019 and looks forward to 2020. “ApconiX have had an absolutely fantastic 6 months of fundraising for Macmillan Cancer Support. Our grand total is an amazing £2000! Thanks to everyone that has supported us, we hope you’ve had as much fun at our fundraising events as we did. [...]
Introduction: Detection of neurotoxicity induced by prospective new therapies represents a major challenge due to the morphological and physiological complexity of the central nervous system (CNS). Characterised by uncontrolled electrical activity in the brain, seizure liability remains a significant cause of attrition in drug discovery and development. An industry survey published in 2016 reported that [...]
Abstract: Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is of significant concern to drug development and regulatory review because of the limited success with existing preclinical models. For developing alternative methods, a large drug list is needed with known DILI severity and toxicity. We augmented the DILIrank data set [annotated using US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drug [...]
It is wonderful to see the original publication of patch-clamp methodology included in Nature’s 10 extraordinary papers (published 22 October 2019). The ground-breaking work of Neher and Sakmann sits alongside the discovery of the structure of DNA, cell reprogramming and birth of nanomaterials. At this time, Neher and Sakmann had recruited a Post Doc called [...]
The Challenge It is not uncommon for our clients to synthesise compounds for testing in in vitro assays that are largely insoluble, and sometimes this requires consideration of novel vehicles. Recently, when provided with a DMSO-insoluble compound, we explored using the aqueous solvent, ascorbic acid. The Science Firstly, it was important to examine any potential [...]
Kimberly Rockley completed her PhD in the Division of Pharmacy at Durham University before joining us at ApconiX in June last year. Her research utilised in vitro cardiomyocyte models to investigate the link between angiotensin signalling and anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity. Here she describes the problem of cancer therapy induced cardiotoxicity and the potential impact of her [...]
Kimberly Rockley completed her PhD in the Division of Pharmacy at Durham University before joining us at ApconiX in June last year. Here she reflects on her first 6 months with the company. “Having gained a background in cancer biology, toxicology and in vitro research techniques from my Master’s degree and PhD research I was [...]
Team ApconiX had a fabulous time at their Christmas party - secret Santa brought tears of laughter and sorrow and the odd gasp! A few team members went incognito. Wishing everyone a lovely holiday and the very best for the coming year. Looking forward to a new decade and new challenges. See you in 2020!
