How was our 2024?

New Laboratory and New Offices
A look at the list of events from 2024 to include in this article shows that moving to the new laboratory building was likely the year’s most significant event. The move required extensive planning, and we had to pause ongoing projects partially. Transporting all the instrumentation was quite delicate (including our Formulatrix Plate hotels for 4 & 20 °C crystallization), and restarting everything took some time. Still, our fantastic staff made the entire process smoother than expected. We also needed to acclimate to our new building and navigate through the offices and labs. We now reside in a hyper-modern 1000 m² facility designed to fit our specific needs seamlessly and provide room for further growth. Eventually, we settled into our new home and, for the first time, hosted our traditional Christmas lunch in our very own lunchroom. Considering the international nature of our company, we decided that for lunch, everyone should bring a dish representing their culture. This was a great success, as we had the opportunity to discover each other’s culinary skills, and I believe everyone was secretly curious about how well their dish was received ☺. I should also mention our open house day, where all the companies in the new building were invited to visit each other’s labs and offices and learn about each other’s projects. The warm and inviting atmosphere culminated in a lovely late brunch that captured the Christmas spirit of friendship and peace. All these experiences marked an inspiring start for our new company home.

Updating Our Off-the-Shelf Library of Proteins
We made a significant update to our library of off-the-shelf protein structures. The updated library now features nearly 600 drug targets, organized into two categories: FastLane™ Premium and FastLane™ Standard. The Premium library includes crystallization-grade proteins that are ready to be crystallized with your selected ligand. In contrast, the Standard library contains in-house expression vectors that can be expressed, purified, and crystallized following verified protocols, typically within a few weeks. The library primarily consists of kinases, oxidoreductases, and phosphatases, with 112, 80, and 48 entries, respectively. Additionally, it includes a wide variety of amino acid metabolic enzymes, ATPases, GTPases, G-protein regulators, bromodomains, hydrolases, linker PDZ domains, enzymes involved in lipid and nucleotide metabolism, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARP), various signaling proteins, and many others.
Take a look!

New Homepage
The homepage serves as the company’s public face, creating the first impression for potential clients. Many companies overlook the homepage’s importance, simply wanting one because it’s standard practice. For large, well-known companies, an attractive and professional homepage created by a copywriting and web design agency may be sufficient, as customers are already familiar with their brand and often visit for specific information. However, a small company’s homepage must stand out. It should be easy to find, highly informative, engaging, and clearly explain how the company can assist its clients. Professional marketers often recommend that company management directly oversee the homepage to achieve the best results. With all this in mind, we re-designed our homepage. We invite you to visit our new homepage and would greatly appreciate any feedback!

Updated Publication List
We continued our tradition of assisting our clients with their publications, contributing to six papers published in reputable journals, including Nature Communications, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, and mAbs. The topics of these publications covered a range of subjects, such as small ligand and peptide complexes with drug targets like galectin-8N, galectin-1, and neuropilin-1, as well as antibody-antigen complexes, NMR studies, and the verification of an AI-generated small molecule inhibitor of the human peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor subtype gamma (PPARγ), which is part of our FastLane™ Premium library of off-the-shelf structures. Notably, this was our first publicly disclosable experience verifying the binding of an AI-generated inhibitor. This milestone demonstrates how artificial intelligence can advance drug discovery to a new level.

New Collaborations
Collaborations have always played a crucial role for us. Over the years, we have partnered with numerous companies on various projects. Our latest partner, the Danish company Vipergen ApS, specializes in innovative, high-fidelity, unique DNA-encoded library (DEL) screening technologies. This allows for identifying novel hit compounds by screening over 500 million drug-like molecules in a single tube or within living cells. The combination of SARomics’ structural biology services platform with Vipergen’s screening capabilities will significantly enhance and accelerate the lead generation process for identified hit molecules, thereby improving the drug discovery services offered by both companies.

Reflecting on the key achievements of the past can be an inspiring exercise, both in business and personal life. It can also help one gain a clearer insight into the future. At the start of 2025, we eagerly anticipate new achievements and look forward to assisting our current and future clients, expanding our structural biology and drug discovery services!