InstruQuest

The Institute of Medicinal Molecular Design, Inc. (IMMD) was founded in March 1995 by Dr. Akiko Itai with the mission to contribute to the society by offering drug discovery technologies.

Montana Molecular was founded in 2004 to develop and commercialize fluorescent proteins (FPs) for live cell imaging applications. The technology that underlies this effort was originally conceived by Thomas Hughes at Yale University. Dr. Hughes is now the head of the Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience at Montana State University. The Company has used this technology to develop several new read-outs for pharmaceutical and biotechnology applications, including genetically encoded fluorescent markers, a system for detecting protein-protein interaction, and biosensors for cell-based high throughput drug discovery.

DC Biosciences, formerly Dundee Cell Products, provides pharmaceutical and biotech companies with novel technologies and proteomics services to accelerate the development of safer drugs.

AVIVA develops enabling drug discovery technoSlogies by combining biochips with cell biology.

Sekmed is a biotechnology company working in the drug discovery and gene hunting field. The company's fishing nets are the company's DC-based bioassays, and the company are looking for catch: drug candidates to create vaccines, improve transplant acceptance and treat autoimmunity.

Echelon Biosciences is a company that received a SBIR Phase I grant for a project entitled: Near Infrared Substrates for Imaging Autotaxin Activity In Vivo. Their project aims to synthesize ATXRed, an in vivo imaging agent that is specifically activated by the enzymatic activity of autotaxin. Autotaxin is an extracellular enzyme that generates the phospholipid growth factor lysophophatidic acid (LPA). LPA is involved in a variety of biological functions, such as angiogenesis, wound healing, brain development, immunological competence and the regulation of blood pressure. Both LPA and autotaxin have also been implicated in numerous diseases, especially metastatic cancer. Autotaxin was identified as one of the 40 most induced genes in aggressive breast cancer. The broader impacts of this research are the discovery and commercialization of tools that easily highlight specific biological pathways in living organisms. ATXRed will be welcomed by basic researchers in many fields associated with autotaxin and LPA. However, the utility extends beyond the basic research sphere. ATXRed smart probes could also aid pharmaceutical researchers searching for pharmacological inhibitors of autotaxin and LPA receptor agonists and antagonists. ATXRed would be a powerful tool in many rodent models of human cancer. In vivo autotaxin imaging probes could also aid in the clinic by helping to identify and monitor disease progression and treatment. Ultimately, ATXRed could help guide surgical resection of tumorstumors previously identified by the smart probe to have elevated autotaxin activity. In total, ATXRed probes have the potential to impact basic research, drug discovery and the clinic as a prime example of molecular medicine applied from bench to bedside.