AstraZeneca announces three new research partnerships

AstraZeneca has announced a series of new research collaborations that will be led by its new Cambridge lead discovery centre.

The three partnerships will ensure state-of-the-art screening and compound management at the AstraZeneca MRC UK Centre for Lead Discovery facility, which will be located within the company's new global research and development centre at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.

A three-year agreement with HighRes Biosolutions has been signed to develop intelligent robots for high-throughput screening of compounds, while the firm will also work with Labcyte and Brooks Automation on a partnership to use the energy of sound waves to dispense compounds directly from individual storage tubes into well plates for testing.

Additionally, a five-year collaboration with Genedata has been announced to create a software platform to help expedite collaboration in drug discovery and reduce data analysis costs.

AstraZeneca will become one of the largest users of this collaboration platform software, which it will share with its early-stage partners.

Steve Rees, vice-president for screening sciences and sample management for AstraZeneca's discovery sciences business, said: "Working together with leading technology providers, we are creating cutting-edge capabilities for compound management and screening."