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UrduWhat do online grocery shopping, venomous snails, and foot biomechanics have in common? All three were research subjects under investigation at the 2024 DMRC retreat, the largest in the history of the event.
Tag: Drug Development
Advancing Synthetic Ephedra-Type Alkaloids With a Two-Step Enzymatic Approach
The development of versatile and efficient biocatalysts for the synthesis of α-hydroxyketones and Ephedra-type alkaloids represents a significant advancement in synthetic biology and medicinal chemistry. In this study, researchers explore the potential of acetolactate synthase (AlsS) from Bacillus subtilis (BsAlsS) for the production of phenylacetylcarbinol (PAC) and its derivatives. Additionally, the study investigates the use of intermediate reductive amination enzymes (introduction of amine group using enzymes) for functionalizing α-hydroxyketones to generate synthetic Ephedra-type alkaloids.
SHRO Scientist Named FDA-AACR Cancer Research Fellow
Canio Martinelli, M.D., MSc, GYN-OB resident at the University of Messina and visiting Ph.D. student in Translational Molecular Medicine and Surgery at the Sbarro Health Research Organization (SHRO), Temple University, has been honored with the 2024-2025 FDA-AACR Oncology Educational Fellowship.
New compound effective against flesh-eating bacteria
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a compound that is effective against common bacteria that can lead to rare, dangerous illnesses.
Compound from Olives Shows Promise for Treating Obesity and Diabetes
Findings from a new mouse study suggest that elenolic acid, a natural compound found in olives, can lower blood sugar levels and promote weight loss. The research could pave the way to the development of safe and inexpensive natural products for managing obesity and type 2 diabetes in people.
MD Anderson and Sibylla Biotech announce strategic collaboration to discover and develop small-molecule protein degraders
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Sibylla Biotech today announced a strategic collaboration agreement to discover and develop novel small-molecule cancer therapies known as folding interfering degraders (FIDs), which disrupt the proper folding of target proteins and lead to their degradation.
Wistar Scientists Develop Novel Antibody Treatment for Kidney Cancer
Wistar scientists have built upon BTE technology to develop new and improved recombinant and synthetic DNA versions of therapeutic antibodies that target CA9, called Persistent Multivalent T Cell Engager (CA9-PMTE), that shows promise in pre-clinical models as a potent, long-lasting treatment against ccRCC.
Alzheimer’s Drug Development Pipeline: Positive Results, New Insight Position 2024 as ‘Learning Year’
Alzheimer’s treatment studies offer hope as UNLV expert predicts new potential drugs, biomarkers will yield critical insight for future development.
Unlocking the medicinal potential of Lotus BIAs: Advances in research for future drug development
A research team has made process in understanding benzylisoquinoline alkaloids (BIAs) in lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), highlighting their presence in various tissues and their potential for novel drug development.
How Scientists Are Accelerating Chemistry Discoveries With Automation
Researchers have developed an automated workflow that could accelerate the discovery of new pharmaceutical drugs and other useful products. The new approach could enable real-time reaction analysis and identify new chemical-reaction products much faster than current laboratory methods.
Praedicare Leverages AI, Mathematical Models of Disease Progression and Mapping in World’s First In Silico Clinical Trial of Its Kind
The in silico trial demonstrated 2X the efficacy of the current treatment (>80% vs 39%); 3X shorter treatment time to cure (6 vs 18 months); 1 drug compared to a 3-drug combo for the standard of care; and preclinical results in shorter time than animal models.
Targeting a coronavirus ion channel could yield new Covid-19 drugs
Chemists discover the structures of open and closed states of the channel, which could help the development of antiviral drugs to reduce inflammation
New tool reveals how drugs affect men, women differently — and will make for safer medications
UVA Health researchers have developed a powerful new tool to understand how medications affect men and women differently, and that will help lead to safer, more effective drugs in the future.
Drug discovery on an unprecedented scale
Boosting virtual screening with machine learning allowed for a 10-fold time reduction in the processing of 1.56 billion drug-like molecules. Researchers from the University of Eastern Finland teamed up with industry and supercomputers to carry out one of the world’s largest virtual drug screens.
A new tactic to take on leprosy
Though antibiotics can treat leprosy, researchers are concerned about the increase in drug-resistant strains. Now, a team reporting in ACS Central Science has begun to understand the role certain immune receptors play in leprosy, which could lead to new types of treatments for this disease.
One-Two Punch: Novel Drug Pairing Could Beat Pancreatic Cancer
UC San Diego researchers find a combination of drugs outperformed other treatments in human and mouse models of pancreatic cancer; now urge clinical trial.
Alzheimer’s Drug Development Pipeline: Promising Therapies, Pharma Investment Drive Momentum in Clinical Trials
According to the newly released “Alzheimer’s Disease Drug Development Pipeline: 2023,” there are currently 187 clinical trials in the Alzheimer’s drug development pipeline – the most ever on record. This momentum is driven in part by greater investment from the pharma industry and a bump in biologic therapies – particularly monoclonal antibodies – that were central to the success of both recent FDA-approved drugs.
The annual report spots trends in clinical trial design and outcome measures, and also investigate the types of agents and biological targets that are being pursued.
Discovery suggests route to safer pain medications
Strategies to treat pain without triggering dangerous side effects such as euphoria and addiction have proven elusive. Now scientists at Washington University School of Medicine have identified a potential pathway to pain relief that neither triggers addiction nor causes hallucinations.
Potential drug treats fatty liver disease in animal models, brings hope for first human treatment
A potential drug successfully treats the severe form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in non-human primates — bringing scientists one step closer to the first human treatment for the condition that is rapidly increasing around the world, a study suggests. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) causes scarring and inflammation in the liver and is estimated to affect up to 6.5% of the global population.
Brain tumor discovery paves way for new drug treatments
New research has shown that the blood vessels that feed aggressive brain tumours have receptors that could allow a new type of drug-containing nanoparticle to be used to starve the tumours of the energy they use to grow and spread, and also cause other disruptions to their adapted existence, even killing themselves.
St. Jude approach prevents drug resistance and toxicity
Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital showed an effective method to avoid activating a major cellular detoxification receptor to overcome drug resistance and toxicity.
Impact of key Alzheimer’s protein depends on type of brain cell in which it is produced
Of all the known genetic risk factors for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, the strongest is a gene for the protein called ApoE4.
How Earth’s molecules got their “handedness”
Scientists from The Ohio State University have a new theory about how the building blocks of life – the many proteins, carbohydrates, lipids and nucleic acids that compose every organism on Earth – may have evolved to favor a certain kind of molecular structure.
Small Molecule Drug Reverses ADAR1-induced Cancer Stem Cell Cloning Capacity
UC San Diego researchers report that a late-stage, pre-clinical small molecule inhibitor reverses malignant hyper-editing by a protein that promotes silencing of the immune response, metastasis and therapeutic resistance in 20 different cancer types.
Hijacking our cells’ enzymes to eliminate disease-causing proteins
The researchers looked at a ubiquitin ligase enzyme named FBXL2, known to degrade proteins at various cellular membrane compartments. They found that by attaching or detaching a fat molecule or lipid to FBXL2 — a process called palmitoylation and de-palmitoylation — they could direct where the FBXL2 went. They also discovered that in order to travel in the aqueous cellular environment for the delivery of lipid-modified FBXL2 to membrane compartments, it used a trafficking protein called PDE6D, which is known to shield the lipid modifications.
Researchers use a new approach to hit an ‘undruggable’ target
By tapping into a cellular garbage disposal function, researchers found they could eliminate STAT5 from cell cultures and mice, setting the stage for potential development as a cancer treatment.
Jaime Merchán, M.D., Named a Translational and Clinical Oncology Research Program Co-Leader
Jaime Merchán, M.D., is the new Translational and Clinical Oncology Research Program co-leader at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of UHealth – University of Miami Health System.
New drugs to squash the spread of malaria
Malaria is a devastating disease, with 247 million cases and 619,000 deaths reported in 2021 alone.
National Primate Research Center of Thailand Chulalongkorn University Symposium 2023
As its 11th-anniversary approaches, the National Primate Research Center of Thailand Chulalongkorn University (NPRCT-CU) and the Primates Enterprise Co., Ltd. are pleased to announce two events in February 2023:
Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation and Harrington Discovery Institute to Support Promising Research to Protect the Alzheimer’s Brain
The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) and Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals in Cleveland have granted an ADDF-Harrington Scholar Award to Christiane Wrann, PhD, DVM, Associate Professor in Medicine at the Cardiovascular Research Center and the McCance Center for Brain Health at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Medical School in Boston. Dr. Wrann will receive funding and drug development guidance to help advance her research towards potential new therapies for patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
MD Anderson Research Highlights for December 19, 2022
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights provides a glimpse into recent basic, translational and clinical cancer research from MD Anderson experts. Current advances include a cell cycle checkpoint inhibitor with potential therapeutic effects in an ovarian cancer subtype, a telementoring program for French-speaking oncology providers in Africa, insights into the relationship between obesity and immunotherapy side effects, updates to the world’s largest cancer drug discovery knowledgebase, improvements to treatment response by blocking the EGFR pathway, and a novel noninvasive diagnostic test for immunotherapy-related kidney injury.
Expanding the arsenal of drugs against COVID-19
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, has been devastating the entire world.
MEDIA ADVISORY: Cedars-Sinai Experts Available During San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium
Physician-scientists from Cedars-Sinai Cancer are available for comment on research being presented throughout the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, taking place Dec. 6-10.
Popular Pharmaceutical Target in Cells May Prove Even More Useful
Researchers at UC San Diego have identified a new signaling process involving G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), a cellular target already exploited by hundreds of diverse drugs. The discovery opens the possibility of new therapies, including for multiple forms of cancer.
University of Washington joins industry-academia alliance to accelerate research in neuroscience
The University of Washington has joined the Alliance for Therapies in Neuroscience (ATN), a long-term research partnership between UC San Francisco, UC Berkeley, Genentech (a member of the Roche group) and Roche Holding AG geared to transform the fight against brain diseases and disorders of the central nervous system.
Scientists develop blueprint for turning stem cells into sensory interneurons
Key takeaways:
• Just like the real thing. The stem cell–derived interneurons, which play a role in sensations like touch and pain, are indistinguishable from their real-life counterparts in the body.
• Tomorrow’s therapies. In addition to potential treatments for injury-related sensation loss, the discovery could lead to new methods for screening drugs for chronic pain.
• Moving forward. While stem cells from mice were used in the research, scientists are now working to replicate the findings with human cells.
New drug molecule for treatment of atrial fibrillation
Scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) Department of Pharmacy have developed an improved pharmaceutical drug for the treatment of the most common heart rhythm disturbance – atrial fibrillation (AF). This technological breakthrough which could benefit millions of AF patients worldwide.
Texas Biomed tapped for national ‘Dream Team’ developing antivirals against COVID-19 and other threats
Texas Biomedical Research Institute Professor Luis Martinez-Sobrido, PhD, an expert in virology, vaccines and antiviral research, has been recruited to collaborate with three of the nine Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) Centers for Pathogens of Pandemic Concern announced by NIH this spring.
Speeding up the search for the next COVID-19 antiviral
To develop new COVID-19 medications, researchers are working to target nsp13, a protein coronaviruses need to replicate. In ACS Infectious Diseases, researchers describe a new approach to identifying molecules that interfere with this protein, a step toward developing pan-coronavirus antivirals.
UNH Research Finds Repurposed Drug Inhibits Enzyme Related to COVID-19
With the end of the pandemic seemingly nowhere in sight, scientists are still very focused on finding new or alternative drugs to treat and stop the spread of COVID-19. In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers at the University of New Hampshire have found that using an already existing drug compound in a new way, known as drug repurposing, could be successful in blocking the activity of a key enzyme of the coronavirus, or SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19.
Harrington Discovery Institute Invites Proposals for 2023 Harrington UK Rare Disease Scholar Award
Harrington Discovery Institute® at University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio, and its registered UK charity Fund for Cures UK, Ltd. (Fund for Cures UK) have issued a call for proposals for the 2023 Harrington UK Rare Disease Scholar Award. In addition to grant funding, Harrington Discovery provides guidance and oversight in drug development, while intellectual property is retained by the scholar and their institution.
Good news on blocking a virus considered a global threat
Scientists have reported good news on the pandemic preparedness front: A cocktail of four manufactured antibodies is effective at neutralizing a virus from the Henipavirus family, a group of pathogens considered to be a global biosecurity threat.
New Model for Antibacterial Mechanism
Biologists have discovered an aberrant protein that’s deadly to bacteria. The discovery could help scientists unravel the lethal mechanism of certain antibiotics—and potentially point the way to future antibacterial drugs.
A Target for Potential Cancer Drugs May, In Fact, Worsen Disease
Researchers reveal a previously unrealized complexity in cancer development, one that raises concerns and caution about targeting an enzyme popular in oncological treatments.
$6.5M Grant Awarded to Develop Treatment for Alcoholic Liver Disease-Associated Kidney Dysfunction
The Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and MitoPower LLC were awarded an Small Business Innovation Research grant of $6.5 million from the NIH’s National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to develop a treatment for alcoholic liver disease-associated hepatorenal syndrome.
Rethinking Remdesivir
UC San Diego researchers modify remdesivir, creating oral version that can be taken earlier in COVID-19 diagnoses. In cell and animal studies, revised drug proved effective and safe.
UIC awarded $6 million to develop potential COVID-19 treatment
Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago are developing a potential treatment for COVID-19, thanks to a $6 million technology and therapeutic development award from the U.S. Department of Defense supporting pre-clinical animal studies.
Mount Sinai Researchers Develop Novel Therapy That Could Be Effective in Many Cancers
Mount Sinai researchers have developed a therapeutic agent that shows high effectiveness in vitro at disrupting a biological pathway that helps cancer survive, according to a paper published in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, in July.
Novel Method Predicts if COVID-19 Clinical Trials Will Fail or Succeed
Researchers are the first to model COVID-19 completion versus cessation in clinical trials using machine learning algorithms and ensemble learning. They collected 4,441 COVID-19 trials from ClinicalTrials.gov to build a testbed with 693 dimensional features created to represent each clinical trial. These computational methods can predict whether a COVID-19 clinical trial will be completed or terminated, withdrawn or suspended. Stakeholders can leverage the predictions to plan resources, reduce costs, and minimize the time of the clinical study.
Blocking how the malaria parasite suppresses the immune response
The parasites that cause severe malaria are well-known for the sinister ways they infect humans, but new research may lead to drugs that could block one of their most reliable weapons: interference with the immune response.