Almac and University College Cork announce launch of academic/industrial collaboration
May 12, 2010
UniversityCollegeCork and Almac (a contract research and manufacturing organisation based in Northern Ireland, specialising in integrated drug development and human health) are proud to announce the official launch of an academic/industrial collaboration in the field of solid state chemistry.
The partnership, which is principally funded by the Science Foundation Ireland, is focussed upon applying innovative new technologies to elucidate 3D molecular structures from powder x-ray data. Through the use of current x-ray technology, it is necessary to generate a single crystal in order to extract such structural information. This is often problematic and the pharmaceutical community have been compelled to seek alternatives.
The programme of research will be carried out between the Pharmaceutical Solids group of the Analytical and Biological Chemistry Research Facility, UCC (Anita Maguire, Simon Lawrence, Humphrey Moynihan, over ten postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers) and the Almac Physical Sciences group (Linda McCausland and Noel Hamill). This team is joined by postdoctoral researcher Dr. László Fábián who brings specialist expertise in powder diffraction to the project.
“The UCC/Almac collaboration is strategic to the progression of our academic goals and will be of great benefit to the students of UCC, the research community and the Irish pharmaceutical sector as a whole.”
Anita Maguire, Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Director ABCRF, UCC
“Almac is delighted to be engaged with UCC on this exciting research project. The combined expertise will be used to develop novel techniques which can advance the drug development strategies of our clients.”
Linda McCausland, Head of Physical Sciences, Almac
To celebrate the launch of the collaboration, a joint symposium on the topic of “pharmaceutical polymorphs and co-crystals” was held on Wednesday 28 April at University College Cork. This milestone event was attended by over 60 representatives from the Irish pharmaceutical industry and academia. The large and diverse audience is testimony to the importance that is placed on the role of solid state chemistry in pharmaceutical development. As such, there is no doubt that the research output of this innovative new venture will be eagerly anticipated.
In the accompanying photograph are (left to right) Prof. M. A. McKervey (Almac), Humphrey Moynihan (UCC), Prof. Anita Maguire (UCC), Gareth Maguire (Almac), Noel Hamill (Almac), Linda McCausland (Almac), Simon Lawrence (UCC), Curtis Elcoate (UCC), László Fábián (UCC), Kevin Eccles (UCC), Dawn Kelly (UCC).
Contact:
Tristan Jervis
Account Director
De Facto Communications
T: +44 (0)207 861 3838
About Almac Group:
Almac is a financially stable, privately owned organisation with over 30 years experience, it provides integrated development solutions to over 600 customers worldwide including all the world leaders in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. Their services include R&D, translational genomic services; API manufacture; formulation development; clinical trial supply and technology (IVRS/IWRS & ePRO) and commercial-scale manufacture.
The company has over 2,600 employees and is headquartered in Craigavon, Northern Ireland, where it was awarded “Business of the Year 2009”. US operations are based in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and California. Construction of the company’s new $120m North American Headquarters in PA started in July 2008 and will be completed in 2010.
For more information about the Almac Group, please visit almacgroup.com or e-mail [email protected]
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