Peak Proteins’ take on ‘A Christmas Carol’
by Head of BD, Hazel Weir.
Thinking back on 2022 – a pretty momentous year for Peak Proteins (as well as the rest of the world!) – the story of Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ came to mind – with the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future leading Ebenezer Scrooge to reflect on what his life had been, what it was now and what the future could hold as a result of his actions. So, what would our Peak Proteins Christmas ghosts show us?
Our ghost of Christmas Past would be showing an optimistic scene, with what started out as a ‘try it and see’ business idea from our founder Mark Abbott. When I started working at Peak Proteins back in 2017, I was employee number 10 and by that stage we were working out of two small labs and a single office. Things were going well and through our highly skilled and talented team of primarily ex-AstraZeneca employees, we were starting to get a name for ourselves – delivering high quality, protein reagents and protein crystallography data for a number of mainly UK based, drug discovery companies and academic groups. Unlike Ebenezer Scrooge, our early years had gone well, and the future was looking bright. We were off to conferences, bought our first commercial ‘booth’ and were starting to feel like a grown-up, small enterprise. Most importantly, people were starting to recognise the company and recommend us to others – that’s the best kind of feedback we can ever receive.
Moving onto the ghost of Christmas Present, and we find ourselves, five years later, soon to be welcoming employee number 45! How did that happen? At the heart of our business was the desire to provide a research-based service, where our ability to scientifically think through tricky protein problems, and provide well-thought-out options, was just as important as delivering them. Our drive to do great work allowed us to build up the expertise in the team and provide valuable job opportunities for talented scientists who preferred to live in the North West of England (and who wouldn’t want to live in this beautiful part of the world). However, the slight headache that gave us was the continual need for more lab and office space. In 2021, we decided to take the plunge and have a shell of a building at Tytherington Business Park fitted out as research labs and offices providing much needed additional space and room to grow. All went to plan, and we moved into our new facilities in March 2022 which are a real pleasure to work in.
A number of those early clients enjoyed working with us so much that long-term partnerships developed and are continuing to grow, with Peak Proteins staff working each month alongside their own scientists, feeling very much a part of their drug discovery teams. Most significant for us was the long-term partnership with Sygnature Discovery Ltd, who, after an initial capital investment with us in 2016, asked us if Peak Proteins would like to be part of the wider Sygnature Discovery organisation. Having worked closely with Sygnature on a number of their client projects and having seen the same client-focused ethos and desire to deliver the best service possible, this seemed a natural fit. So, at the end of Nov 2022, Peak Proteins became fully part of this leading, UK-based but global, integrated drug discovery organisation (whilst retaining the trading name of Peak Proteins).
So what will the ghost of Christmas Future be showing us I wonder? Well, as the protein science group in Sygnature, we will certainly be involved in a wider range of integrated drug discovery projects and it really is a thrill to be involved on a molecule’s journey from a protein target idea, through the pre-clinical hit identification and optimisation research stage to ultimately, (hopefully), reaching new investigational drug (IND) status. Sygnature Discovery certainly have a reputation for that, with having contributed to 21 client IND applications. After all, that is what our research and service is all about – helping to provide medicines and treatments to give a better quality of life to as many patients as possible.
Being part of a larger organisation will take most of the administrative burden of our shoulders, allowing us to focus entirely on what we do best – protein science – alongside investment in new equipment and the financial support to expand the range of protein-based science we can deliver. I am sure the ghost of Christmas Future will be showing our Cryo-EM expertise playing a bigger role in our structure determination offerings, alongside our aim to provide NMR expertise as well (more of that in our January newsletter!).
As this unforgettable year draws to a close, a big ‘thank you’ goes out to all our clients, past and present for their continued business and support. We wish everyone a peaceful and healthy New Year –and look forward to seeing you at a face-to-face conference before too long!
If you would like to discuss any project ideas for 2023 with us and find out more about what Sygnature Discovery can offer , then please just email us at info@peakproteins.com or fill in our contact form on the Peak Proteins web-site.
