Stories|Impact Assessment: High-throughput Pharmaceutical Screening at Room Temperature
Impact Assessment: High-throughput Pharmaceutical Screening at Room Temperature
Impact Assessment
At Hi-Acts, we are committed to generating lasting societal and economic impact through our activities. To ensure that our resources are used most effectively, and to continuously learn from past projects, we apply a methodologically robust framework for impact assessment. Below, you can explore our previously conducted socio-economic impact assessments, which highlight the outcomes and long-term value of our initiatives.
You can also download the comprehensive report as a PDF below.
With the upgrade of HiPhaX at PETRA III, DESY now enables high-throughput crystallography at room temperature. This globally unique capability reflects physiological conditions more realistically and opens new avenues for drug discovery.
The Hi-Acts Use Case Initiative (UCI) is a targeted funding programme that bridges cutting-edge accelerator-based research with industrial innovation. Its core goal is to generate measurable technological, economic, and societal impact by accelerating the translation of accelerator technologies into practical applications.
This project advanced HiPhaX, a pharmaceutical X-ray screening instrument at DESY’s PETRA III, by adding a humidity- and temperature-controlled measurement chamber and a robotic arm for automated sample exchange. The upgrade enabled room-temperature high-throughput crystallography – a globally unique capability that better reflects physiological conditions than conventional cryogenic methods.
The system now reduces measurement times by up to 93% (1–2 minutes per sample versus 10–15 previously) and has reached TRL 9 hardware maturity. TRL, or Technology Readiness Level, is a standard measure of technological maturity, with level 9 representing full operational readiness in real-world conditions. Crucially, room-temperature conditions revealed biologically relevant protein conformations invisible under cryogenic conditions. For example, a new active-site conformation was identified in an antibiotic resistance enzyme, opening avenues for novel drug design.
Beyond immediate scientific breakthroughs, the project has sparked new collaborations, including an international consortium developing antivirals for influenza and Lassa virus. Industry uptake is emerging, with research institutions and pharmaceutical service providers showing strong interest – especially as high-profile publications validate the approach.
This UCI project positions DESY as a global leader in room-temperature crystallography, strengthens Germany’s sovereignty in pharmaceutical screening, and supports public health resilience by accelerating drug discovery for neglected and pandemic-prone diseases. It also paves the way for commercialisation and potential spin-outs, showcasing how relatively small-scale UCI funding can deliver outsized technological and societal value.
Click now on the corresponding Success Story Faster, Smarter Drug Development: High-Throughput Screening at HiPhaX, for even deeper insights!
You can find the report and infographic to download below:
