Ligase News and Research

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Two-gene interaction reveals metastatic risk in breast cancer

Why do some breast cancer patients face a much higher risk of distant metastasis, while others with seemingly similar disease experience far better outcomes?

7 Aug 2026

Researchers discover smart molecular glue that activates inside oxidative cancer cells

Investigators at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have developed a platform for systematically discovering molecular glues that could become protein degradation drug candidates.

7 Aug 2026

LIG1 loss reveals new treatment strategy for aggressive breast cancer

Loss of one copy of the DNA Ligase I (LIG1) gene in triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) with TP53 mutations confers resistance to chemotherapy, but researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and collaborating institutions have identified a vulnerability in these cells and used it to their advantage.

16 Jul 2026

New biological feedback loop helps the immune system attack colorectal cancers

A subset of cancers, known as microsatellite instability (MSI) and deficient DNA mismatch repair (dMMR) cancers, are more visible to the immune system than others.

16 Jul 2026

Weill Cornell Medicine receives DoD grant to target triple-negative breast cancer

Weill Cornell Medicine has received a $2.5 million, three-year grant from the Department of Defense (DoD) to develop therapies with fewer side effects for triple-negative breast cancer, one of the most aggressive and difficult-to-treat breast cancers.

16 Jul 2026

Researchers uncover hidden mechanism behind cancer-linked SPOP mutations

Mutations to the protein SPOP are widespread in cancer, yet many remain poorly understood. To address this gap, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists obtained structures of SPOP in both the presence and absence of these mutations.

13 Jul 2026

Engineered ribozyme repairs broken RNA to explain origins of life

In most modern cells, DNA stores the genetic blueprint, and relies on proteins to replicate, repair and build from those blueprints.

13 Jul 2026

New viral library helps scientists study thousands of proteins

To prevent viruses from sickening or killing us - whether it's an individual case of hepatitis B or a COVID pandemic - it's crucial to understand how the proteins they make initiate changes in our bodies that allow them to flourish.

11 Jul 2026

TRIMTECH Therapeutics brings total seed round to $47 M with additional investment of $14 M to further develop TRIMTAC and TRIMGLUE targeted protein degradation portfolio

TRIMTECH Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing novel small molecule therapies that target and degrade protein aggregates associated with neurodegenerative diseases, today announced it has raised an additional $14 million in seed funding, bringing the total for the round to $47 million (£35 million).

From TRIMTECH Therapeutics 23 Jun 2026

Developing brain cells routinely repair severe DNA damage during migration

Newborn nerve cells must squeeze through crowded, narrow spaces-through dense tissue, past other cells, between fibers-to reach the areas where they form neural circuits in the brain cortex.

17 Jun 2026

Silver nanoparticles enable precise DNA cutting and assembly

DNA is composed of long chains that act as the blueprint for living organisms. In genetic engineering, scientists cut DNA at specific sites and join the resulting fragments to other DNA sequences, enabling applications such as advanced crop breeding, genetic disease treatment, and the generation of animal models for drug discovery.

10 Jun 2026

Dual-pathway protein degradation approach could improve cancer treatment

Targeted protein degradation has become one of the most promising strategies in modern drug discovery, enabling scientists to eliminate disease-causing proteins instead of merely blocking them.

12 May 2026

Copper-based nanoplatform shows promise against metastatic tumor growth

What happens if cancer cells lose both their mitochondrial energy supply and their glycolytic backup system? This question is central to a new study published in Research by researchers from Northwestern Polytechnical University and collaborating institutions.

10 May 2026

Blocking a single protein could make hidden HPV-positive tumors vulnerable to treatment

A team of scientists at Henry Ford Health + Michigan State University Health Sciences have uncovered a mechanism that allows certain head and neck cancers to hide from the immune system, a discovery that could change how some of the most treatment resistant tumors are approached.

18 Mar 2026

SonoPIN technology boosts intracellular delivery of large cancer drugs

Engineers at Duke University have demonstrated a technique that uses microbubbles and ultrasound to help relatively large cancer drugs enter tumor cells and cause them to self-destruct.

13 Mar 2026

Researchers identify TRIM13 protein as key driver of immune suppression in sepsis

Dendritic cells (DCs) are increasingly recognized as important contributors to sepsis-associated immune dysfunction.

4 Mar 2026

Targeting IDO1 for cancer: Novel degraders show promise in preclinical studies

Cancer cells employ a variety of strategies to evade the immune system, and modern immunotherapies aim precisely at these escape mechanisms.

9 Jan 2026

Newly discovered molecules accelerate the removal of immune-modulating enzyme

Cells have a remarkable housekeeping system: proteins that are no longer needed, defective, or potentially harmful are labeled with a molecular "tag" and dismantled in the cellular recycling machinery.

7 Jan 2026

New method reveals how human cells initiate DNA replication

When cells proliferate, genomic DNA is precisely duplicated once per cell cycle. Abnormalities in this DNA replication process can cause alterations in genomic DNA, promoting cellular ageing, cancer, and genetic disorders. Therefore, understanding how cells replicate their DNA is crucial for elucidating fundamental biological processes, diseases, and even evolution.

3 Dec 2025

Generative AI aids discovery of ISM3830's novel scaffold

Casitas B-lineage lymphoma-b (CBLB) is an E3 ubiquitin–protein ligase that functions as an intracellular checkpoint and master negative regulator of T‑cell and natural killer (NK) cell activation, playing a central role in modulating T-cell activation and immune tolerance, and its inhibition enhances T cells and NK cells function, also provides a strategy for the function restoration of exhausted T cells.

1 Dec 2025