Almac and University College Cork collaborate in solid state chemistry

12 June 2010

University College Cork (UCC) and contract research and manufacturing company Almac have launched an academic/ industrial collaboration in the field of solid state chemistry to advance drug development.

The partnership, which is principally funded by the Science Foundation Ireland, is focussed on 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 and the Almac Physical Sciences group.

“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," said 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,”  said Linda McCausland, Head of Physical Sciences, Almac.