CeSPIAAbout CeSPIA
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Company profile
CeSPIA Inc. was established on April 17, 2017 as a joint venture between Dr. Yoshinori Fujiyoshi (Distinguished professor, Tokyo Medical and Dental University) and JEOL Co., Ltd. (President and CEO: Izumi Oi).
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Background of establishment
In recent years, protein structure analysis, which is expected to be useful for new drug development, has been rapidly developing by cryo-electron microscopy*1. Cryo-electron microscopy has made it possible to analyze structures of membrane proteins and large protein complexes in a relatively short period of time, and it has become possible to obtain new information on drug discovery targets for which structural information was not previously available. Therefore, structural information analyzed by cryo-electron microscopy is beginning to attract attention in the development of new drugs. On the other hand, high-resolution three-dimensional structure analysis using cryo-electron microscopy requires skilled technology and know-how, and is still difficult, so it has not yet reached the stage where it can be used as a new drug discovery strategy.
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Description of business
・CeSPIA provides contract services for structural analysis of membrane proteins using cryo-electron microscopy.・By cryo-electron microscopes developed by JEOL Co., Ltd. and Yoshinori Fujiyoshi, high-resolution structures of target proteins can be analyzed in a short period of time.・You can effectively use information of high-resolution three-dimensional structures of proteins for drug development. In addition, CeSPIA provides consulting services related to the development of new drugs based on the drug rescue strategy*2. In this way, we will support the improvement of the efficiency of new drug development.
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*1 A device that can cool a sample and take electron microscopic images in order to observe and analyze structures of unfixed, unstained (raw) proteins embedded in a thin ice film at the atomic level. In recent years, due to the high performance of image detection cameras and the rapid development of computer analysis technology, analysis accuracy and throughput have improved, and it has become a powerful instrument for structural analysis.
*2 The Drug Rescue Strategy is a drug discovery strategy named by Director Fujiyoshi that regenerates candidate compounds whose development has been discontinued due to strong side effects or insufficient efficacy as drugs by designing drugs that can reduce side effects by analyzing the structure of their binding state with the target molecule at high resolution. Cryo-electron microscopy has made it possible to obtain detailed information on the binding status of candidate compounds and target molecules in a short period of time, which is difficult to analyze with conventional methods, and it is expected that drug rescue strategies will become realistic new drug discovery strategies.
