August 2023
Blog post by Noctiluca
What is a Contract Research Organisation?
A Contract Research Organization (CRO) is an external company that takes on specific research and development activities. The responsibilities of the CRO are precisely outlined in the agreement, signifying that they research on behalf of their clients.
In most cases, CROs work jointly with their clients’ R&D teams on defined specific technological challenges. The challenges can vary, with the CRO team either being given a challenge without any prompts from the client’s side on how to approach a potential solution, or becoming engaged to develop a technology for a particular stage – from PoP (Proof of Principle), through PoC (proof of concept), prototyping, MVP (minimum viable product), piloting scale-ups, or developing a mass production-ready solution. CROs play a significant role in cost reduction for companies engaged in developing new drugs and technologies by streamlining the development process and rendering the traditional “in-house” approach of large companies obsolete.
Contract Research Organizations come in various sizes and types, ranging from expansive multi-national full-service entities to smaller, specialized niche groups. One of the distinguishing features of CROs is their ability to ensure audit quality, mainly due to the expertise of professionals employed within such companies.
Team and laboratory excellence
Despite its formal establishment in 2019, Noctiluca’s team boasts over 15 years of experience in overseeing the most challenging chemical projects. This extensive background is further complemented by a wealth of expertise in organic chemistry. Our group comprises skilled synthetic chemists and analysts, and we are proud to operate in brand-new, fully-equipped laboratories with specialized instruments for chemical synthesis, purification, quality control, and characterization. This state-of-the-art infrastructure ensures the impeccable quality and precise characterization of our products at every process stage.
Our expanded laboratory allows for greater flexibility in production processes and fosters more efficient teamwork. Moreover, recent investments in cutting-edge equipment have empowered Noctiluca to cater to a larger customer base and expedite order fulfilment. Consequently, we are well-positioned to serve as your dedicated research and development team.
Why choose Noctiluca as a CRO?
Noctiluca is a unique global company that offers a comprehensive range of services, capable of covering the entire process – from R&D, design, synthesis, and production of materials to collaborating with partners to create test devices and demonstrators, as well as scaling material production for industrial applications.
This means that Noctiluca’s scientific team conducts research and development projects in the chemical industry on behalf of clients to develop cutting-edge solutions, including high-performance materials. Following the production of its signature emission compounds, the company set its sights on a new challenge – helping clients adopt these materials in their market-ready products.
Noctiluca’s CRO approach is to collaborate with partners on projects and builds long-term relationships based on specific business cases. CRO involves product development in collaboration with a partner and, using their budget, has the potential to grow into a long-term business arrangement under the condition that the project’s results are applied in the partner’s final devices. CRO is not a service-oriented activity but a developmental one, offering one of the best ways to establish long-term partnerships.
Our expertise
Our scientific team will study the specific needs of each project to offer the best solution for your business. We offer:
- Assistance in all basic reactions of organic chemistry, e.g. electrophilic substitution, nucleophilic substitution,
- Planning and optimising organic synthesis, with particular emphasis on coupling reactions: Buchwald-Hartwig, Sonogashira, Ullmann, Kumada, Heck, Suzuki,
- Support in the purification of compounds,
- Planning synthesis pathways,
- Optimising reaction conditions,
- Increasing synthesis efficiency.
We work in fully equipped laboratories with specialised instruments for synthesis, purification, quality control, and characterization, ensuring the quality and proper characterization of our products at every process stage.