Double first for Cambridge Research Biochemicals

The new capital will allow CRB to expand its capacity to synthesise long and complex peptides through the purchase of a Liberty Peptide Synthesizer, one of the most advanced instruments of its kind and a new flatbed synthesiser to double capacity.  The new synthesiser’s microwave technology will enable CRB to make higher purity peptides up to 10 times faster than by conventional methods, long peptides can be made in a day instead of a week  and peptides can be produced that are impossible to synthesize under conventional conditions.  Emily Humphrys, CRB’s Commercial Director commented, “Our peptide customers in the pharmaceutical drug discovery sector and in academic disease research will benefit from our ability to produce increasingly complex peptides, as well as more exotic ones, faster and at less expense and our antibody customers will find that we can make highly specific antibodies from these extremely long and challenging peptides.
 
Asked to comment on what CRB’s new synthesiser could do for its customers, Dr Mike Gait from the Medical Research Council, Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge gave an example: “In our work, the microwave capacity of the Liberty speeds up coupling reactions and recently allowed us to synthesise PNA of up to 23 residues in yields much higher than we could obtain previously with a more conventional peptide synthesizer. This has particularly aided our research on developing in vivo targeting of microRNAs by PNA.”

Emily Humphry’s added “this grant and the award from CELS are fantastic news for CRB, its customers and its staff. Furthermore, I'm delighted that our recent success has been recognised with such a prestigious award but our ambitious plans don't stop there. The company has increased its turnover by 25% and is on track for a further 35% increase in 2010 as our growth strategy continues