New technique shows in detail where drug molecules hit their targets in the body

The new method could speed the development of many new drugs

03-May-2022 - Scientists at Scripps Research have invented a way to image, across different tissues and with higher precision than ever before, where drugs bind to their targets in the body. The new method could become a routine tool in drug development. Described in a paper in Cell on April 27, 2022, the new ...

Mega docking library poised to speed drug discovery

One billion-plus compounds - weeded of 'decoys' - expected by 2020

08-Feb-2019 - Researchers have launched an ultra-large virtual docking library expected to grow to more than 1 billion molecules by next year. It will expand by 1000-fold the number of such "make-on-demand" compounds readily available to scientists for chemical biology and drug discovery. The larger the ...

Mapping oesophageal cancer genes leads to new drug targets

06-Feb-2019 - Mutations that cause oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC) have been mapped in unprecedented detail - unveiling that more than half could be targeted by drugs currently in trials for other cancer types. This research could help stratify oesophageal cancer patients to give them more personalised ...

Clues to making drugs for "undruggable" targets

07-Nov-2018 - Nicolas Thomä's group at the FMI has joined forces with the group of Benjamin Ebert at Harvard’s Broad Institute to show how thalidomide analogs mediate degradation of many more proteins than previously anticipated. These proteins – zinc finger transcription factors – play a role in cancer and ...

Pathogens may evade immune response with metal-free enzyme required for DNA replication

23-Oct-2018 - Some bacterial pathogens, including those that cause strep throat and pneumonia, are able to create the components necessary to replicate their DNA without the usually required metal ions. This process may allow infectious bacteria to replicate even when the host's immune system sequesters iron ...

PhoreMost completes $15M Series-A round to enter drug discovery

Investment to fund expansion of operations and progression of drug target pipeline

22-May-2018 - PhoreMost, the UK-based biopharmaceutical company dedicated to drugging ‘undruggable’ disease targets, today announced it has completed an £11m ($15m) Series-A investment round. The investment will be used to expand operations on the Babraham Research Campus and progress several novel drug ...

Novel technology for anticancer drug delivery on demand

13-Mar-2018 - With the goal of minimizing the side effects of chemotherapy on healthy tissues, a team of researchers at the Center for Self-assembly and Complexity, within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) have developed novel nanocontainers able to deliver anticancer drugs at precise timing and location. ...

Nanoscale virus delivers peptide drugs to cells, tissues

11-Jan-2018 - By chipping away at a viral protein, Rice University scientists have discovered a path toward virus-like, nanoscale devices that may be able to deliver drugs to cells. The protein is one of three that make up the protective shell, called the capsid, of natural adeno-associated viruses (AAV). By ...

Identifying the right target

Protein structure could unlock new treatments for cystic fibrosis

15-Dec-2017 - Biochemists at the University of Zurich have used cryo-electron microscopy to determine the detailed architecture of the chloride channel TMEM16A. This protein is a promising target for the development of effective drugs to treat cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis is a severe hereditary disease of ...

Nanoparticles to target, kill endometrial cancer

06-Dec-2017 - Tumor-targeting nanoparticles loaded with a drug that makes cancer cells more vulnerable to chemotherapy's toxicity could be used to treat an aggressive and often deadly form of endometrial cancer, according to new research by the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy. For the first time, ...