science
Every biological process in the body depends on the availability of building blocks and energy, provided by the flow of nutrients between cells and across organs. Minuscule molecular gating machines, called solute carriers (SLCs), are transporters that mediate the movement of substances across membranes – the natural barriers in the cell and the body. As their name, carriers, suggests, these transporters grab nutrients like sugars, amino acids, and ions and move them across cell membranes. The precise regulation of SLCs plays a crucial role in cellular homeostasis, with any imbalance potentially disrupting normal physiological processes, ultimately making the difference between maintaining health and the onset of disease.
We aim to change the course of disease by improving the metabolism of specific cells in selected tissues. The most direct way to control the supply and demand for cellular nutrients is to influence the function of specific SLCs by interfering with their movements. We achieve this by developing innovative and selective assays for the most exciting transporter targets involved with metabolic, immune, and neurological disorders. We combine this with deep expertise in medicinal chemistry to identify and progress the most promising molecules modulating the transport activity of the selected target, accelerating the path to novel SLC drugs.
Recent major scientific advancements have identified many SLCs as potential targets in difficult-to-treat diseases, supported by growing evidence from human genetics. We imagine a future in which we can systematically improve patients’ lives by selectively modulating the activity of these transporters.
Solute Carriers: A Challenging Target Class
Membrane transporters are emerging as important drug targets, supported by growing evidence from human genetics: by regulating transporters, it is mechanistically possible to modulate metabolite levels in specific tissues of the human body and consequently ameliorate the condition of patients.
SLCs form the largest class of transporters, comprising more than 400 gates expressed in our body. SLCs transport a wide variety of nutrients with unique specificity and affinity. Moreover, beyond their ability to transport, SLCs can also form complexes that mediate important signalling hubs.
More than half of the superfamily has been associated with human diseases in every tissue, including clear genetic links to a multitude of therapeutic indications, ranging from neurological syndromes to inflammation and metabolic disorders, both prevalent and rare.
Despite their links to disease, only a few of these druggable target proteins are actually addressed by drugs approved to treat patients. The known success cases provide extraordinary examples of how drugs targeting transporters can ameliorate mood disorders, renal impairment, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension.
However, a gap in drug discovery remains: for most SLC targets, there is still no chemical molecule discovered yet.
An SLC-dedicated Platform
We dedicate our efforts to this one target class of membrane transporters. This allows our technology platform to be tailored for effective hit identification against SLCs, capitalizing on advanced, innovative technologies and the deep SLC expertise of our team.
By using cell-based technologies, including fragment-based chemoproteomics, genetic engineering, and high-content screening, we investigate SLCs under physiological settings. This innovative and high-throughput platform enables us to further develop potency and selectivity for the selected compounds against the most promising disease-relevant SLC targets, identified through data-driven computational approaches. We continuously strive to develop innovative therapeutic modalities against challenging targets by combining our proven experience with world-class research capabilities.
Drug Discovery
Our platform enables us to focus on several SLC targets in parallel using cell-based assays executed under physiological settings, thereby accelerating the identification of compound hits. Hits identified by our technology against disease-relevant SLC targets are developed by our team into promising compounds with the desired mode of action, resulting in an exciting pipeline covering several undisclosed targets.
Through extensive expertise in SLC structure and function and in-house medicinal chemistry capabilities, Solgate’s mission is focused on advancing promising hits towards lead candidates and ultimately bringing the right SLC drug candidate to the right patient.