Japanese Pharmaceutical Instruments Utilize Hungarian Researchers' Method

Researchers from the Department of Biochemistry at ELTE TTK, József Kardos and András Micsonai, developed the BeStSel (Beta Structure Selection) method, which is capable of analyzing the secondary structure and spatial arrangement (fold) of proteins more accurately than previous algorithms. This development greatly improved the analysis of circular dichroism (CD) spectra of proteins, which is particularly important as this investigation forms an integral part of the analysis of therapeutic proteins and antibodies, and thus are especially important for the pharmaceutical industry. The significance of the method was also recognized by the management of the University, as the development was selected as the best university development in 2023 by the University Innovation Board.

The researchers' software solution quickly attracted the interest of the industry, leading to negotiations with JASCO, a market leader in optical spectroscopy and chromatography, present in 57 countries, about utilizing the development.

The serious industrial interest and market potential were demonstrated by the rapid progress of the negotiations. On June 29, 2023, representatives of the university and the company ceremoniously signed a long-term cooperation agreement on the use of the Hungarian development in the Japanese company's evaluation software applied in the high-throughput CD devices satisfying the needs of the pharmaceutical industry. Now, JASCO has built the BeStSel software into their Spectra Manager software for general purposes, as well.

JASCO highlighted that ELTE researchers have created a popular website, where users can analyze CD data online using the BeStSel method. However, the online platform is not suitable for biotechnology companies, so JASCO was granted the opportunity to use the offline version of the BeStSel software in its Spectra Manager Ver. 2.5 and CFR software packages, allowing its CD instruments to operate with unprecedented accuracy.

More information about the new software package can be found on JASCO's website: https://www.jasco-global.com/news/release-announcement-of-spectra-manager-bestsel/

The BeStSel method-based data analysis site operating at ELTE can be accessed here: https://bestsel.elte.hu/index.php