Medicinal Chemistry News and Research

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Chemical modification improves release and availability of insulin, research shows

Replacing a hydrogen atom by an iodine atom in insulin, the hormone retains its efficacy but is available more rapidly to the organism.

3 Jan 2017

FDA grants permission to assess safety of investigational drug for Alzheimer's disease in humans

Vanderbilt University scientists have received notification from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that testing in humans may proceed for an investigational new drug for Alzheimer's disease after more than 10 years of research by scientists at Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

28 Dec 2016

Mount Sinai researchers laying groundwork to find effective treatment for Zika virus

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai are working on the basic science that lays the groundwork to finding a way to treat and prevent the Zika virus, a global health risk.

22 Dec 2016

Japanese researchers discover that 2-aminobutyric acid can effectively raise antioxidant levels

A Japanese research team has become the first in the world to discover that 2-aminobutyric acid (2-AB) is closely involved in the metabolic regulation of the antioxidant glutathione, and that it can effectively raise levels of glutathione in the body when ingested.

15 Dec 2016

Antioxidant levels could be boosted with newly-found amino acid function

14 Dec 2016

Scientists synthesize antitumor compound to combat chemoresistant cancer

A team of scientists from N. D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, N. K. Kol'tsov Institute of Developmental Biology of the RAS, and Immune Pharmaceuticals LLC led by MIPT's Prof. Alexander Kiselyov has synthesized an antitumor compound that could be used to fight chemoresistant cancer.

30 Nov 2016

New research revises scaffold definition for systematic analysis of compound diversity

While the Bemis-Murcko approach to scaffold analysis has remained the go-to definition for computational medicinal chemistry for the past few decades, it is not without its shortcomings.

9 Nov 2016

Using deep learning to update the drug discovery paradigm: an interview with Professor Jackie Hunter

With the current drug discovery paradigm, it takes up to 15 years to translate an idea, such as hypothesizing a certain protein is important in a disease and testing this with targeting the protein with a drug, all the way through to proof of concept...

2 Nov 2016

Two widely prescribed antibiotics may combat bacteria differently than previously thought

Two widely prescribed antibiotics -- chloramphenicol and linezolid -- may fight bacteria in a different way from what scientists and doctors thought for years, University of Illinois at Chicago researchers have found.

2 Nov 2016

Scientists uncover new class of small molecules for fighting urinary tract infection

This spring, a Pennsylvania woman who developed a urinary tract infection (UTI) became the first patient in the U.S. reported to have a bacterial infection resistant to colistin, an antibiotic of last resort.

26 Oct 2016

Highly caffeinated alcoholic drinks may induce changes in the adolescent brain similar to cocaine

Drinking highly caffeinated alcoholic beverages triggers changes in the adolescent brain similar to taking cocaine, and the consequences last into adulthood as an altered ability to deal with rewarding substances, according to a Purdue University study.

25 Oct 2016

Scientists modify structure of cancer drug to enhance ability to pass through blood-brain barrier

In efforts to develop new treatments for brain cancer, scientists from Johns Hopkins Drug Discovery and the Kimmel Cancer Center's Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy report they have altered the structure of an experimental drug that seems to enhance its ability to slip through the mostly impermeable blood-brain barrier.

20 Oct 2016

Novel compound provides safe, effective pain relief with zero abuse potential in animal model

Since the isolation of morphine from opium in the 19th century, scientists have hoped to find a potent opioid analgesic that isn't addictive and doesn't cause respiratory arrest with increased doses.

30 Aug 2016

Researchers find new way for early prediction of leukemic relapse

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center have identified RNA-based biomarkers that distinguish between normal, aging hematopoietic stem cells and leukemia stem cells associated with secondary acute myeloid leukemia (sAML), a particularly problematic disease that typically afflicts older patients who have often already experienced a bout with cancer.

26 Aug 2016

Atomic level analysis reveals how two classes of calcium channel blockers produce different effects

An atomic level analysis has revealed how two classes of calcium channel blockers, widely prescribed for heart disease patients, produce separate therapeutic effects through their actions at different sites on the calcium channel molecule.

25 Aug 2016

New chemical compound could potentially be used to treat Ebola virus infection

Scientists have found Ebola's Achilles' heel: a new kind of chemical compound can block the protein Ebola uses to break out of cells and infect new cells.

24 Aug 2016

EPFL scientists develop new method to cheaply produce chemical compounds

EPFL scientists design a new method to cheaply produce some of the most important chemical compounds in the pharmaceutical industry - the amines.

12 Aug 2016

Hops extract activates chemical pathway in cells to help prevent breast cancer

An enriched hops extract activates a chemical pathway in cells that could help prevent breast cancer, according to new laboratory findings from the UIC/NIH Center for Botanical Dietary Supplements Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

12 Jul 2016

Curza receives SBIR grant to develop new class of broad spectrum antibiotics

Curza Global, LLC, a company based on technology developed at the University of Utah, has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant of $598,770 entitled "Natural product-inspired antibacterials with unique ribosomal binding" that will provide two years of support.

7 Jul 2016

Tiny molecular scaffolding could be key to fight against antibiotic resistance

Tiny molecular scaffolding that joins molecules together could be the key to our battle against antibiotic resistance. Research published in Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters shows that carbon nanodot scaffolding assembled with small molecules called polyamines can kill some dangerous drug-resistant bacteria, including Acinetobacter baumanii and Klebsiella pneumonia.

14 Jun 2016