Carterra Launches Sensitive Platform: Ultra™ Advances Fragment and Small Molecule Discovery

Carterra Launches Sensitive Platform: Ultra™ Advances Fragment and Small Molecule Discovery

By, Admin 6 September 2024

Overview

Carterra has unveiled its latest platform, Carterra Ultra™, an addition to its LSA® and LSAXT surface plasmon resonance (HT-SPR) instruments. 

Designing of Ultra

  • Ultra is designed for small molecule applications, offering the same high throughput, rapid data collection, and low sample volume as its predecessors but with increased sensitivity, capable of characterising molecules as small as 100 Daltons.
  • The Ultra platform features improved optics, advanced microfluidics, and enhanced thermal control, enabling high-sensitivity measurements in an array format. 
  • This allows it to support Fragment-Based Lead Discovery (FBLD) with a signal-to-noise ratio optimised for small molecule detection. 
  • Its ability to measure interactions at temperatures as low as 10°C – five degrees below the capabilities of the LSA and LSAXT systems – sets it apart.

Broad Range of Molecular Interactions

  • The Ultra allows to screen a broad range of molecular interactions simultaneously. 
  • This new technology will significantly accelerate drug discovery by providing high-sensitivity biophysical characterisation with unprecedented throughput.

Role of AI/ML

  • The Ultra also plays a key role in artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) applications, which require large amounts of binding data to train and validate models. 
  • With the industry's focus on AI-driven drug discovery, Ultra enables scientists to explore multiplexed binding interactions and discover new indications for existing disease targets.

Time is critical in the development of life-saving medicines. The Ultra helps speed up the discovery of small-molecule drugs, enabling scientists to generate high-quality data more quickly and make earlier decisions.

The Carterra Ultra will make its U.S. debut at the Fragment-Based Lead Discovery conference in Boston, MA, from 22-25 September 2024, and will also be showcased at ELRIG’s Drug Discovery event in London, from 2-3 October 2024.