Our Core Technology
From Whole Herbal Extracts to ERAD-Active Compounds.
Nature contains thousands of biologically active compounds.
The challenge is finding the ones that influence the specific cellular pathway we are studying.
At Servo BioLabs, we do not begin by asking:
“Which herbs are traditionally used for blood sugar, enhancing memory........?”
We ask a different question:
“Which natural compounds can modulate ERAD?”
To answer that question, we developed a screening process that combines chromatographic separation with our proprietary ERAD assays.
It Starts with a Multi-Step Purification Process
Step 1 — Start With the Whole Herbal Extract
We begin with a whole extract containing many naturally occurring compounds.
At this stage, we do not know which compound—or combination of compounds—may influence ERAD.
The whole extract is therefore treated as a starting library of natural molecules.
Step 2 — Separate the Extract Into Fractions
The whole herbal extract is passed through chromatographic columns to separate its natural compounds into smaller groups depending on the physical, chemical, or biological properties of the natural compounds.
Then Find and Isolate What Influence ERAD
Step 3 — Screen Every Fraction for ERAD Activity
Each fraction is then tested using our Rapid Fluorescence-based ERAD Assay, or RFEA.
RFEA monitors the movement of a misfolded protein from the ER lumen to the cytosol, a critical ERAD step known as retrotranslocation.
Because retrotranslocation is the rate-limiting step of ERAD, changes in this rate allow us to rapidly determine whether a fraction influences
Step 4 — Keep the Active Fractions
If a fraction changes the retrotranslocation rate, it is further separated using another chromatographic method.
This allows us to continuously eliminate inactive material while concentrating our attention on the fractions that contain ERAD-modulating compounds.
Two Possible Endpoints -
Pharmaceutical & Nutritional
Our purification process can lead to two different development paths.
Pharmaceutical Research
For drug discovery, purification continues until we isolate and characterize the active pure compound.
A purified ERAD modulator or its derivatives can then become a candidate for further pharmaceutical research.
Nutritional Applications
For supplement development, complete purification may not be necessary.
When an herbal fraction contains a sufficiently concentrated and reproducible level of the desired ERAD-modulating compound or compounds, that enriched botanical fraction is selected for further evaluation as a nutritional ingredient.
Same biological target.
Different development endpoints.
Validation - in Cells, Animals, and Humans
In Cells
Promising supplement ingredients and pharmaceutical candidates are therefore evaluated further using our ERAD degradation assays to determine whether they actually accelerate the removal of misfolded proteins.
Our ERAD assay platform was developed specifically to test whether candidate compounds can enhance ERAD-mediated disposal of problematic proteins.
One example from our research is TX-107.
In Mice
For our β-cell research program, candidates are evaluated in mice to determine whether ERAD modulation is associated with improved pancreatic β-cell protection and function under metabolic stress.
Only candidates that continue to show meaningful biological activity move forward.
In Humans:
One of our natural ERAD Modulators, TX-107, has been tested in a pilot human study for its effects on: (1) the durability of Type 2 diabetes oral drugs, and (2) the dependence of Type 2 diabetes patients on prescriptions. The details are shown here.
The chemical derivatives of TX-107 are being tested for IND submission.
Why RFEA Changed the Screening Process
Traditional ERAD assays can be technically demanding and relatively slow.
Servo BioLabs developed the Rapid Fluorescence-based ERAD Assay (RFEA) to make the critical screening step much faster.
RFEA uses real-time fluorescence to measure retrotranslocation directly. In the comparison presented in our research material, traditional ERAD assays handled approximately 4 samples in 12 hours, whereas RFEA could process approximately 32 samples in 30 minutes while providing quantitative rate information.
This speed makes it practical to screen many fractions during repeated rounds of natural-product purification.
Instead of guessing which herbal compounds might work,
we let the ERAD assay tell us.
