Slipping a note to a neighbour: the cellular way

How cells send messages to each other

02-Jul-2024 - Researchers have gained new knowledge of how drugs bind to connexin molecules. These molecules form channels that allow neighbouring cells to send direct messages to one another. Dysfunctions of these channels are involved in neurological and cardiac diseases. The new understanding of how drugs ...

AI designs new drugs based on protein structures

“It’s a real breakthrough for drug discovery”: Process ensures right from the start that the molecules can be chemically synthesised

25-Apr-2024 - A new computer process developed by chemists at ETH Zurich makes it possible to generate active pharmaceutical ingredients quickly and easily based on a protein’s three-​dimensional surface. The new process could revolutionise drug research. “It’s a real breakthrough for drug discovery,” says ...

New agent blocks stress response

In the future, this could enable stress-​related conditions such as chronic depression to be treated much more specifically and with fewer side effects

24-Jan-2024 - If the body’s natural stress response gets knocked off balance, it can result in physical and mental health disorders. Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed an agent capable of selectively inhibiting this response. Stress isn’t merely an oppressive feeling we experience when we’re overwhelmed; ...

Artificial intelligence finds ways to develop new drugs

The chemists tested the process using borylation – a reaction that activates hydrocarbon scaffolds

28-Nov-2023 - A new AI model developed by chemists at ETH Zurich can not only predict where a pharmaceutically active molecule can be chemically modified, but also how best to do it. This makes it possible to identify new pharmaceutical ingredients more quickly and improve existing ones in a targeted ...

Fighting tumours down to the last cancer cell

Researchers at PSI have developed a new drug that could increase the survival chances of patients with metastatic prostate cancer

06-Jul-2023 - The drug is now being tested on patients in the PROGNOSTICS project. A research consortium consisting of the Paul Scherrer Institute, the University Hospital Basel and ETH Zurich is receiving two million Swiss francs in funding for this project. In Switzerland, about 7100 men are diagnosed with ...

How drugs get into the blood

This knowledge facilitates the development of drugs that can also be taken in tablet form

17-Apr-2023 - Computer simulations have helped researchers understand in detail how pharmaceutically active substances cross cell membranes. These findings can now be used to discover new drug candidates more efficiently. There is a need for new drugs. For example, many of the antibiotics that we have been ...

New reaction facilitates drug discovery

Old inspiration, new chemical trick

07-Sep-2022 - Chemists at ETH Zurich have found a facile method that allows a commonly used building block to be directly converted into other types of important compounds. This expands the possibilities of chemical synthesis and facilitates the search for new pharmaceutically active ingredients. Medications ...

Hope in the fight against cancer: They build proteins that are not known to nature

Basel-​based biotech startup has big ideas for the future: it aims to take protein engineering into a new era

15-Jun-2021 - Using chemical synthesis, Bright Peak Therapeutics can produce proteins that have never before existed. This holds great potential for cancer immunotherapy. The Basel-​based spin-​off has its beginnings at ETH Zurich. Jeffrey Bode’s long, bold journey began over an after-​work beer in Tokyo. A ...

Mechanism discovered how the coronavirus hijacks the cell

A starting point for vaccine and drug development

15-Sep-2020 - Researchers at ETH Zurich and the University of Bern have discovered a mechanism by which the corona virus manipulates human cells to ensure its own replication. This knowledge will help to develop drugs and vaccines against the corona virus. Like a pirate hijacking a ship, a virus takes control ...

Early in vitro testing for adverse effects on embryos

15-May-2019 - ETH researchers have combined embryonic cells and liver cells in a new cell culture test. This combination lets them detect adverse effects that new medications may have on embryos early on in the drug development process. Medications have to be safe for mothers-to-be and for their unborn ...