A supplier of reagents and drug testing kits to the life sciences sector has entered into a new agreement with Dundee University’s Drug Discovery Unit (DDU).
Ubiquigent Ltd, based in the Sir James Black Centre at the university, specialises in cell-signalling system drug discovery capabilities and services relating to the protein ubiquitin.
The firm and DDU have now entered into a formal collaboration to develop and market new compound libraries targeting the ubiquitin system.
Ubiquigent managing director Dr Jason Brown said: “The collaboration supports Ubiquigent’s goal of being the first fully integrated provider of biology, assays, small molecule libraries and compound profiling services in the ubiquitin signalling system field.
“As such, we are well placed to help our pharma and biotech partners accelerate access to the field and support their ongoing programmes.”
Professor Paul Wyatt, head of the DDU, said: “Ubiquitin-system drug discovery holds great promise and we are excited to be working with Ubiquigent to develop compound libraries which hold the potential to deliver wide-reaching therapeutic benefit.
“The initiative provides an ideal opportunity to combine the DDU’s strength in medicinal chemistry with the technical and commercial expertise provided by the team at Ubiquigent,” he added.
The tie-up was revealed as non-executive director Dr Mark Treherne was named as Ubiquigent’s new chairman.