Around one-third of all the 30,000 genes in the human genome code for membrane proteins - i.e. those that integrate into the outer wall of cells and allow it to interact with the environment outside. According to recent research around 75 per cent of current drugs have their effects via membrane proteins.

As a result, membrane biology research is an area with high potential for companies or academics looking to offer their expertise as a service.

M2 Ventures, a new consultancy firm launched in the UK, along with the University of Leeds, have decided to gamble on what they see as an area which will attract great demand among the pharma industry, by using their respective expertise to launch a set of services based on membrane biology.

"We have a wide spectrum of expertise in membrane biology and a broad capability, which is something that no other university has," Professor John Colyer, professor of biotechnology at the University of Leeds, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.

Prof. Colyer, who was one of the instigators of the project, said that to his knowledge very few other contract research organisations (CROs) are focusing on early-stage development services and probably none can offer such a broad range of membrane biology research expertise.

The partnersip between the university's Centre for Integrative Membrane Biology (CIMB) and M2 Ventures' founder Dr Tony Marchington, is different is the way that it will offer research services covering membrane function at all levels, the two organisations claim, from the biology of singles within entire organisms through to analysis of protein structure and function at a cellular level.

In practice, the way both organisations will work together is pretty straight forward, he explained, with M2 Ventures pitching for potential pharma clients and the university providing the actual services.

"We will offer the services to drug developers in the form of a basic research contract so there will be no issues in terms of intellectual property," said Colyer.

He said the way pharma companies are approaching outsourcing in particular during the early stages of drug development is changing and despite them being equipped to conduct some research in-house they are increasingly relying on outsourcing during the early discovery stage.

Dr. Marchington added in a statement: "As the pharma and healthcare industries continue the trend to outsource their fundamental research and early stage development, the natural recipients of this work are universities, such as Leeds, that have research excellence in these areas and can package and offer that expertise in ways that meet industry requirements."

Colyer said the project was still at a very early stage and no contracts have been secured yet.

"We have just started in late August and are still in the first phase of the programme where we identify what exactly we can provide to pharma companies in terms of offering and hopefully we'll start talking to potential clients by the end of the year."