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Sygnature Discovery, a leading provider of integrated drug discovery services to the pharmaceutical industry, has today provided an up-date on its new Bioscience group.  The team was established in August 2011 and is already involved in a number of drug discovery activities for clients, including integrated discovery projects and in vitro biology-only projects.

"Our Bioscience group is now fully-operational and already contributing to Sygnature's revenue stream," commented Dr Simon Hirst, Chief Executive Officer.  "We have medicinal chemists and bioscientists working side-by-side in the same laboratory and this is encouraging close scientific interaction and optimal communication.  Having the ability to undertake medicinal chemistry and in vitro biology/screening ‘under one roof' is already benefiting Sygnature's clients by facilitating efficient design/make/test cycles during integrated drug discovery projects.  This is so important for delivering successful outcomes to discovery programmes.  Further integrated projects will start in the near future."

Dr John Unitt, Head of Bioscience at Sygnature Discovery stated, "I am delighted to have joined Sygnature to establish the Bioscience group.  Having gained over 20 years of drug discovery experience at AstraZeneca R&D Charnwood, working on a broad range of projects from target identification to lead optimisation, I am pleased to bring this expertise to Sygnature for the benefit of clients.  With the closure of Charnwood in July 2011, I was able to bring my team of experienced bioscientists with me to Sygnature.  This has meant that we were able to set-up our in vitro biology/screening laboratory quickly and efficiently.  We have the expertise to design complete screening cascades to support Sygnature's medicinal chemistry activities and utilise industry-standard screening technologies to undertake a wide range of biochemical and cellular assays.  It is an added bonus to be working alongside some former AstraZeneca medicinal chemistry colleagues who joined Sygnature earlier this year."

About Sygnature Discovery

Sygnature Discovery is a leading United Kingdom-based provider of integrated drug discovery services.  Sygnature currently employs over 50 laboratory-based medicinal chemists and bioscientists in its modern, purpose-built facility in BioCity Nottingham.  Most of these scientists have PhDs and many have 10-22 years drug discovery experience with companies such as AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Merck and OSI Pharmaceuticals.  Sygnature's industry-experienced team adds considerable value to clients' discovery programmes by undertaking complete drug discovery projects and key elements of the drug discovery process, such as hit finding, hit-to-lead and lead optimisation.  Sygnature's scientists also provide significant intellectual input into clients' projects; thereby generating novel intellectual property.  Key areas of expertise include medicinal and computational chemistry, bioscience, ADME/toxicity (through a strategic alliance with Cyprotex Discovery) and pre-clinical experimental services (through a strategic alliance with Saretius). 

For more information visit www.sygnaturediscovery.com