FEI Company has announced the installation of a product based on its Tecnai Spirit cryo-transmission electron microscope (TEM) and 3D tomography software at Sun Pharmaceutical in Mumbai, India.
Sun Pharmaceutical will use FEI's 3D imaging product for quality control of drug-loaded vesicles to speed up the development of new therapeutics.
Dr Subhas Bhowmick, vice president of formulation development, Sun Pharmaceutical says: 'We will use the FEI 3D imaging solution to gain a better understanding of the behaviour of the drug in the human body in an effort to develop therapeutics that not only are more effective, but also exhibit reduced side effects.
'The information will also help us to shorten the drug development process and bring new therapeutics to market faster.' Cryo-TEM allows life science researchers to study biological systems in their native, hydrated state and obtain unique information about the particle structure and function.
Non-cryo microscopy and preparation techniques can damage the fragile biological sample and do not preserve the structure needed for 3D reconstruction information.
FEI's tomography software allows for the system's automation to acquire and process thousands of images unattended.
Its 3D imaging product can also aid in the pharmaceutical production process: for example, new drug delivery techniques, such as encapsulating a drug in a liposome, can be monitored during production by visualising the particle.
These drug delivery techniques use labelled liposomes that are transferred directly to the site of interest (such as a tumour cell) and enable targeted delivery of drugs without harming healthy tissue.
