Ligand News and Research

RSS

New reaction approach expands possibilities for drug discovery building blocks

A new approach to an established reaction boosts the ability to synthesize vinylic ethers - key building blocks for many molecules important to human health.

28 Aug 2025

Stress in mothers causes eczema in newborn mice through immune cell changes

Maternal prenatal stress in mice disrupts fetal mast cell programming, triggering eczema-like skin inflammation and heightened sensitivity after birth. The findings reveal how corticosterone-driven immune and neuronal changes in utero may set the stage for pediatric eczema risk.

28 Aug 2025

Researchers develop novel exosome-based therapeutic agent for treating traumatic CNS injuries

Traumatic injuries of the central nervous system (CNS)-such as traumatic brain injury (TBI) and traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI)-are characterized by oxidative damage and neuroinflammation.

28 Aug 2025

Reengineered enzyme enables precise detection of cell surface glycans

Sugars known as glycans form dense envelopes around cells. But they're often ignored in biological investigations because, unlike DNA, proteins and other cellular components, tools to study them are lacking.

14 Aug 2025

AI model can design optimal drug candidates without any prior molecular data

Traditional drug development methods involve identifying a target protein (e.g., a cancer cell receptor) that causes disease, and then searching through countless molecular candidates (potential drugs) that could bind to that protein and block its function.

11 Aug 2025

High-dose vitamin D strengthens bones in very low birth weight infants

Research indicates that high-dose vitamin D improves bone health in very low birth weight preterm infants, highlighting its role in early development.

8 Aug 2025

Researchers uncover dozens of traits driven by maternal versus paternal genes

Researchers developed a high-accuracy method to infer whether genetic variants come from the mother or father without needing parental genomes, analysing 286,666 UK Biobank participants. They uncovered over 30 parent-of-origin effects on traits from growth and metabolism to diabetes, many showing opposite effects depending on parental source.

7 Aug 2025

Egg yolk compound shows promise in osteoporosis management

As osteoporosis becomes an increasingly common health concern worldwide, researchers are exploring alternative treatments to combat bone loss, which often leads to fractures.

7 Aug 2025

AI-designed protein activates Notch signaling pathway to boost T-cell production

A new paper published today in Cell highlights how researchers have leveraged AI-based computational protein design to create a novel synthetic ligand that activates the Notch signaling pathway, a key driver in T-cell development and function.

1 Aug 2025

Two-drug combo shows durable benefit in advanced kidney cancer

A two-drug combination for treating advanced kidney cancer had sustained and durable clinical benefit in more than five years of follow-up, according to a study published Aug. 1 in Nature Medicine.

1 Aug 2025

New high-selectivity nanozyme enables rapid and visible disease diagnostics

To enable early diagnosis of acute illnesses and effective management of chronic conditions, point-of-care testing (POCT) technology—diagnostics conducted near the patient—is drawing global attention.

30 Jul 2025

New strategy reveals how mannose receptor helps regulate blood proteins

The amount of each of the more than a thousand different glycoproteins in your blood varies widely with the 10 most abundant glycoproteins accounting for 90 percent of the total mass.

30 Jul 2025

Different anti-PD-L1 antibodies show varied results in tumor growth inhibition

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), a powerful form of immunotherapy, have revolutionized cancer treatment by unleashing the body's own immune system to fight tumors.

24 Jul 2025

Gut bacteria send direct signals to the brain to stop you from overeating

Researchers have discovered a novel gut-brain sensory circuit in mice where specialized colonic cells sense bacterial flagellin and rapidly suppress feeding via the vagus nerve. This "neurobiotic sense" operates independently of immune pathways, revealing a direct neural mechanism for microbiota-host communication.

24 Jul 2025

Myeloid cells play central role in immune response after polytrauma

Gaining insights into the complex pathways and key cell populations involved in immune dysregulation can aid the development of therapeutic approaches to treat polytrauma, which is associated with poor patient outcomes.

21 Jul 2025

Sound stress alone induces pain sensitivity and brain inflammation

Pain is an important physiological response in living organisms. While physical pain is an outcome of tissue damage, pain can manifest as diverse unpleasant sensory and emotional experiences. Many studies report that emotional or psychological stress enhances pain responses.

18 Jul 2025

Gut pathogens override chemical repulsion and invade

The research redefines indole's function, showing its exploitation by Salmonella for colonization, highlighting complex bacterial interactions in the gut.

17 Jul 2025

Understanding resistance to EGFR targeted therapies in head and neck cancers and breast cancer

A new review was published in Volume 16 of Oncotarget on June 25, 2025, titled "Challenges and resistance mechanisms to EGFR targeted therapies in head and neck cancers and breast cancer: Insights into RTK dependent and independent mechanisms."

10 Jul 2025

Australian scientists use AI to create protein that kills superbugs

In the last year, there has been a surge in proteins developed by AI that will eventually be used in the treatment of everything from snakebites to cancer. What would normally take decades for a scientist to create – a custom-made protein for a particular disease – can now be done in seconds.

9 Jul 2025