FairJourney Bio (FJBio), a global antibody discovery contract research organization (CRO), today announced the opening of its advanced cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structural biology facility in San Diego, California. The new site significantly expands the Company’s presence in the US market and incorporates atomic-resolution structural biology directly into its antibody discovery platform.
The facility houses a state-of-the-art 300 kV cryo-EM infrastructure, including two ThermoFisher Titan Krios 5 systems, enabling native-state structure determination of antibody-target complexes. The launch represents a significant scientific milestone, bringing one of the most powerful approaches in structural biology for antibody discovery within FJBio’s integrated discovery workflow, providing detailed insights across the R&D value chain; from epitope mapping and hit generation through to structure-guided lead optimization and candidate selection.
The cryo-EM services, launched in January 20261, complement FJBio’s antibody discovery and biologic development portfolio with rapid and detailed structural insights that are easily scalable and delivered within 2-3 weeks. The services enable scientists to visualize protein structures at atomic resolution, including protein-protein and protein-ligand complexes, providing high-quality and interpretable results to inform confident decision-making across programs.
The inauguration event featured a scientific talk from Professor Andrew Ward, Ph.D., Professor of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology at The Scripps Research Institute and a globally-recognized authority in cryo-EM and antibody science. His laboratory has pioneered methods for sequencing antibodies directly from cryo-EM data and determined the first high-resolution structure of the human coronavirus spike protein, a breakthrough that directly enabled antigens used in the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.
The facility is strategically positioned within a leading global biotech hub, complementing FJBio’s existing US presence in San Francisco and its operations across Europe. Founded fourteen years ago, the Company comprises over 300 scientists, has supported more than 250 industry partners, contributing to 19 antibodies now in clinical trials or on the market.
"Structural biology has historically been a late-stage tool, used to confirm decisions already made,” commented Dr. Christopher Arthur, Chief Scientific Officer Structural Biology, FairJourney Bio. “We are redefining that paradigm. In San Diego, we are building a premier, full-service cryo-EM CRO that brings together decades of deep expertise in sample preparation, data collection, and computational analysis, embedding structural insight at the very start of discovery, where it shapes epitope selection and determines which leads are worth advancing."
Dr. Werner Lanthaler, Chief Executive Officer, FairJourney Bio, said: “We are at an exciting time for Cryo-EM driven drug discovery, as we begin to recognize its potential to transform antibody discovery and development. It is a great honor that FJBio is globally leading this new wave of cutting-edge technology that will dramatically increase probability of success, right from the very earliest stages of discovery. With our new cryo-EM services, we will help our customers to significantly save time and costs, and accelerate their workflows.”
For more information, visit: https://fjbio.com/fjb-cryo-em
