GlaxoSmithKline and NPL agree new research collaboration

GlaxoSmithKline has announced a new collaboration with the UK's National Physical Laboratory (NPL) that will facilitate future medical research.

The organisations have initiated a project called 3D nanoSIMS with the aim of developing a label-free molecular imaging instrument with unmatched spatial resolution, capable of measuring intracellular drug distribution.

For the first time, this will make it possible to reliably see where drugs go and how they behave at a cellular level, even within specific organelles. This will allow scientists to predict, refine and alter their functionality much more precisely than ever.

The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills will support the research project with more than 4.5 million pounds in funding.

Sir Colin Dollery, adviser to the chairman of research and development and on the global safety board at GlaxoSmithKline, said: "GlaxoSmithKline scientists are looking forward to the opportunities the new equipment will provide to explore in detail the sites of action of novel drug molecules within single cells."

This comes after the company recently allied with Cancer Research Technology and the University of Manchester to generate new cancer drugs in the field of epigenetics.