A new drug target for psychiatric disorders

11-Sep-2024 - Misha Kudryashev’s lab at the Max Delbrück Center has identified a molecular intermediate of a serotonin receptor that is involved in diseases such as depression and schizophrenia. The study points to a potentially new target for therapeutics. A new study published in “The EMBO Journal” points ...

Cancer Research: DNA Repair Mechanism Further Elucidated

“The findings from our work provide the basis for new approaches to treating various types of cancer”

30-May-2024 - Researchers at the University of Würzburg, led by Caroline Kisker in cooperation with Claudia Höbartner, discovered how the protein XPD detects a severe DNA damage and controls its repair. The XPD protein is a central component of our body's own 'DNA repair team', known as nucleotide excision ...

Researchers “film” the activation of an important receptor

Study may lead to the development of improved medicines

15-Mar-2024 - An international team of researchers has succeeded in “filming” the activation of an important receptor. They froze the involved molecules at different points in time and photographed them under the electron microscope. They were then able to place these still images in sequence. This sequence ...

NovAliX and Max Planck join forces to advance Cryo-EM driven drug discovery

Collaboration will make vital process of translating scientific research and academic insights into real therapies more efficient and more effective

07-Mar-2024 - NovAliX, a specialized Contract Research Organization dedicated to enabling drug discovery, announces its long-term strategic partnership with the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen. Through this collaboration, NovAliX and the MPI aim to make the vital process ...

New insights into the utilization of nanotechnology-based drugs

How nanoparticles get inside cells and release drugs

24-Jan-2023 - Novel drugs, such as vaccines against covid-19, among others, are based on drug transport using nanoparticles. Whether this drug transport is negatively influenced by an accumulation of blood proteins on the nanoparticle’s surface was not clarified for a long time. Scientists at the Max Planck ...

Molecular structure of one of the most important receptors in the immune system unraveled

Researchers publish the three-dimensional structure of the B cell antigen receptor, shedding new light on its composition

21-Oct-2022 - The surface of B cells is covered with antigen receptors with which they recognize invading pathogens such as bacteria and viruses. When a B cell receptor binds to an antigen, that is, to a foreign structure, the B cell is activated and triggers the production of antibodies. Antibodies are ...

Pain relief without side effects and addiction

Better than opiates: Researchers use adrenaline receptors for highly-effective analgesics

21-Oct-2022 - New substances that activate adrenalin receptors instead of opioid receptors have a similar pain relieving effect to opiates, but without the negative aspects such as respiratory depression and addiction. This is the result of research carried out by an international team of researchers led by ...

Ordered from afar: How germs’ toxins become dangerous

Researchers highlight the mechanism that enhances toxicity of pathogens in the human cell

19-Nov-2021 - The bacterium P. aeruginosa causes the most common secondary infection in hospital patients with influenza, COVID-19 or cystic fibrosis and it is resistant to antibiotics. Another bacterial pathogen, Vibrio vulnificus, is found in raw seafood and brackish waters and can have rare, but deadly ...

Hungry or full: It comes down to the atomic details

Insight into the molecular structure of an appetite-regulating cell receptor



28-Sep-2021 - A protein - measuring just a few nanometers in size - acts as a molecular switch with a crucial role in determining whether we feel hungry or full. By determining of the protein’s 3D structure, researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin were able to visualize the molecular structures ...

How resistant germs transport toxins at molecular level

Results could help develop mechanisms to combat dangerous pathogens

22-Sep-2021 - In order to counter the increasing threat posed by multi-drug resistant germs, we need to understand how their resistance mechanisms work. Transport proteins have an important role to play in this process. In an article published in the journal Nature Communications, a German/UK research team led ...