Molecular Biology applies key technologies such as bioinformatics, cloning, gene expression analysis and cellular high-throughput assays to discover drug targets in novel disease areas.

Proprietary Gene Microarrays allow simultaneous gene-expression profiling of thousands of genes. This technology is applied to identify novel drug targets and is a key platform in toxicogenomics, which helps to improve the safety profile of compounds in drug discovery. Intracellular signal transduction pathways are investigated to develop innovative cellular assays for high-throughput screenings and for early lead compound validation. Gene-expression systems are established in collaboration with the biochemistry and structural biology departments to produce recombinant proteins for in vitro assays and x-ray crystallography.

FLIPR

Actelion owns a high-technology tool: a Fluorometric Imaging Plate Reader (FLIPR), which enables real time functional assays of receptor-ligand systems on living cells using MicroPlate formats. Thus, FLIPR is a functional, non-radioactive test, which adds important information to the radio-ligand binding assays.

Gene-Array System

Actelion employs a proprietary Microarray system to measure the gene-expression levels of several thousand gene simultaneously. By comparing "normal" and "diseased" conditions, this approach helps our scientists to identify novel targets for drug development or diagnostic markers. Toxicogenomics studies are combined with bioinformatics to characterize compounds in drug discovery and to increase their safety profile.