NCMNtech
About NCMNtech

A biotech company with one core belief.

Every medicine should be designed against its target exactly as it exists in the living cell, never against a distortion of it.

Focus
Native-state membrane protein structural biology
Platform
NCMN System (detergent-free)
Resolution
Sub-3Å cryo-EM
Origin
Invented at VCU
Why We Exist

To solve a membrane protein's structure, it first has to be pulled out of the cell membrane. Traditional methods use detergents, and those detergents systematically strip away the native lipids, leaving a structure that is an artifact of the extraction rather than the true protein.

The NCMN System resolves the structure without detergents. It produces homogenous nanoparticles that keep the protein in its native lipid environment, all the way through to high-resolution cryo-EM. The NCMN technology was invented at VCU, and NCMNtech Inc. was founded to bring it to drug discovery programs.

NCMN native-lipid platform schematic
Figure: NCMN native-lipid platform

Wrong or inaccurate structures defeat the whole purpose of structure-based drug discovery.

The NCMNtech thesis
Track Record

NCMN structures and functions are published and peer-reviewed, and each one revealed biology the field had previously missed.

Bacterial AcrB Transporter
PNAS · 2018↗
Human Mitochondrial TSPO
PNAS · 2025↗
Human Integrin αIIbβ3
Nature Communications · 2024↗
Explore all publications, presentations, and insights →
Leadership
Youzhong Guo, Ph.D.
Youzhong Guo, Ph.D.
Founder & CEO
NCMN InventorStructural BiologyMedicinal Chemistry

Inventor of the NCMN technology and a pioneer of detergent-free cryo-EM. Associate Professor in VCU's Department of Medicinal Chemistry, with 15+ years in membrane protein structural biology and work published in Science, PNAS, Chemical Science, and Nature Communications.

Weihua Qiu, Ph.D.
Weihua Qiu, Ph.D.
Co-Founder & CSO
Structural BiologyBiochemistry

Co-inventor of the NCMN technology. Expert in biochemistry and structural biology, and first author on the landmark AcrB / NCMN paper in PNAS. Brings deep experience in membrane protein biochemistry and structure determination.

Stephen D. Wolpe, Ph.D.
Stephen D. Wolpe, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Drug DevelopmentImmunology

Veteran biopharma leader with roles spanning Pathways Preclinical Partners, the NIH and ARPA-H, and Genetics Institute/Pfizer. Known for pioneering work on the chemokine family and one of the first monoclonal antibodies to TNF.

FAQs

Frequently asked questions.

Learn about the NCMN System, native-state structures, and working with NCMNtech.

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Work With Us

If your program depends on seeing a membrane protein the way it actually exists, let's talk about what the NCMN System can do for you.