Peakdale Molecular announces the establishment of its in-house computational chemistry expertise and the appointment of Steven Enoch to head the department and drive
Steven Enoch brings specialist structure-based design knowledge and application to the Peakdale team, which will play a vital role in developing drug-like compounds, complementing the company's innovative chemistry expertise.
He joins Peakdale from Cyprotex Discovery, where he played a key role as a chemoinformatician.
During his time at Cyprotex he provided QSPR models for customers and was part of a research team that developed novel QSPR building techniques.
Previous to this he completed an MSc in chemoinformatics at the University of Sheffield, which included a three-month project with GlaxoSmithKline, and a PhD in computational inorganic chemistry at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.
With computational chemistry facilities in-house, Peakdale will build on its existing Peakexplorer libraries for drug discovery, with the focus currently on designing Kinase libraries.
The company uses the Schrodinger software system, which is capable of research using the latest ligand and structure based design methods.
Steven Enoch brings expert knowledge in pharmacophore generation, virtual screening, and library design, which, in combination with the Schrodinger software, will help design novel compounds outside of existing chemical space.
Speaking on his appointment, Peakdale CEO Kimberley Morrison said: "Steven's appointment represents the next stage in Peakdale's expansion and signifies an important step for us.
"Having in-house computational capabilities means that we can build on our existing reputation for delivering novel compounds and key intermediates and offer further services to our customers".
Enoch added: "It has long been my ambition to have a role where my input can help guide the synthesis and development of new compounds.
"I'm very pleased to have joined a company with such a good reputation for innovation, and in my role of driving Peakdale's computational chemistry capabilities I intend to carry on this ethic".
Peakdale Molecular was founded in 1992.
Its customers include global pharmaceutical majors and an increasing number of biotechnology companies.
Its team of chemists combines experience in pharmaceutical R and D and process development, fine chemicals, parallel synthesis and medicinal chemistry to deliver unique chemistry solutions to a range of drug discovery challenges.
Peakdale operates in several distinct markets providing novel screening compounds, targeted screening libraries, catalogue intermediates, custom synthesis and contract research chemistry.
