News & Events

September 6, 2023

This year, we celebrate a significant achievement as CrystalsFirst reaches its 5th Anniversary! 

For the past five years, CrystalsFirst has been leading the way in pushing the boundaries of structural biology and drug discovery. Our relentless dedication to innovation and outstanding performance has positioned us as a pivotal figure in the field of drug discovery, establishing groundbreaking benchmarks for drug discovery.

We are proud to report our remarkable achievements over the past five years:

• integrated target-to-hit platform “putting structural data first”
• unlocking chemical matter for difficult targets
• solutions for covalent and non-covalent drug discovery
• machine learning platform 
• more to come…

THE SMARTSOAK^® ADVANTAGE

FOR COVALENT DRUG DISCOVERY

SmartSoak provides significant advantages for for covalent fragment-based drug discovery enabling rapid determination of co-structures for optimization: 

• Conventional soaking fails to modify the cysteine in the active site

• SmartSoak setup enables the covalent modification of cysteine

• High resolution co-structure of human protein with novel MOA at 1.3 Å

July 24, 2023

CrystalsFirst and NexMR Join Forces to Supercharge

Fragment-Based Drug Discovery

“This collaboration allows us to provide our clients with a more holistic approach, combining NexMR’s ultrafast NMR fragment screening technology with our world-class protein crystallography expertise. Together, we aim to accelerate the discovery of novel therapeutics.” Dr. Serghei Glinca, CEO of CrystalsFirst GmbH.

May 22, 2023

Co-crystal soaking using our technology SMARTSOAK^® is specifically designed for drug discovery purposes: 

• Combination of co-crystallization and SMARTSOAK^®
• Achieving high occupancy to solve binding modes in co-structures
• Optimal setup for FBDD and SBDD

Contact us today to learn more about our soaking applications!

THE CHALLENGE OF THE INDUSTRY: ACCESS TO CHEMICAL MATTER

The challenge of the industry remains – access to chemical matter. The Drug Discovery Chemistry conference was full of highlights focusing mainly on enabling technologies and platforms that unlock chemical matter. Read our perspective. 

March 31, 2023

CrystalsFirst’s innovative platform to unlock chemical matter using FBDD has been featured in the renown “Photon Science 2022 – Highlights and Annual Report” published by Europe’s largest synchrotron DESY. 

We believe that putting science first and empower each individual is essential for a great atmosphere and productivity. But we wanted to measure our results. 

A GREAT PLACE TO WORK

The results of the “Employee Satisfaction Survey” lead to an index of 80, which reflects a the highest possible level of satisfaction: “very high satisfaction”. 

Happy employees, happy customers

February 23, 2023

CrystalsFirst Establishes Partnership With Akttyva Therapeutics To SupporAI-Powered Drug Discovery Programs​

We are excited to announce today the signing of a drug discovery service agreement with Akttyva Therapeutics to unlock the full therapeutic potential of the human kinome. 

January 31, 2023

EXPANDET PROTEIN PRODUCTION CAPABILITIES

Introducing our new state-of-the-art protein production capabilities, specifically designed for drug discovery purposes: 

• Cutting-edge technology ensuring the production of high-quality and purity
• Customizable production meeting the specific needs of your project
• Experts with years of experience in recombinant protein production
• Cost-effective solution and scalable production capabilities

Contact us today to learn more about our new protein production facility and how we can help you achieve your research goals!

THE IMPACT OF THE PROTEIN DATA BANK

Our recent blog post, we discuss how the deposited structural data is helping to develop new drugs, supporting biomedical research, and providing relevant data for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning methods. 

January 23, 2023

It was a privilege for our team to welcome Katharina Fegebank, Deputy Mayor of the City of Hamburg and Senator in the Ministry of Science, Research and Equal Opportunities. 

It was a fantastic chance to talk about our future ambitions and show how CrystalsFirst approaches drug discovery.