Protein Engineering News and Research

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Small heat shock protein as model for Alzheimer’s medication

In Alzheimer’s disease proteins clump together to long fibrils causing the death of nerve cells. Small heat shock proteins can counteract this effect. Scientists, therefore, hope to deploy them as agents in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Using the example of a small heat shock protein, researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Helmholtz Zentrum München have now uncovered how the protein interacts with other proteins.

13 Oct 2015

Improved method for building proteins into antibodies

Some proteins exist so fleetingly in the bloodstream that they can't be given effectively as therapies. However, building them into larger proteins, such as antibodies, can make them persist long enough to be useful. Now a team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has devised an improved method for accomplishing this protein-engineering feat.

14 Aug 2015

TSRI-led team devises selection-based, protein-engineering method to work on obesity therapy

Some proteins exist so fleetingly in the bloodstream that they can’t be given effectively as therapies. However, building them into larger proteins, such as antibodies, can make them persist long enough to be useful. Now a team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has devised an improved method for accomplishing this protein-engineering feat.

14 Aug 2015

NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering researcher awarded grant to advance protein hydrogels that mimic nature

The U.S. Army Research Laboratory's Army Research Office recently awarded a New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering researcher a grant to advance protein-engineered, environmentally responsive hydrogels that could replicate biochemical processes currently found only in nature. These protein hydrogels could become fundamental building blocks of important new biomimetic materials.

12 Aug 2015

Simple and accurate detection system can redefine medical diagnostics field

In biology and medicine, we often need to detect biological molecules. For example, in cancer diagnostics, doctors need quick and reliable ways of knowing if tumor cells are present in the patient's body.

25 Jul 2015

Study points to potential treatment for thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura

A rare autoimmune disease creates sudden pain in the abdomen or the head, sending a patient to the emergency room with a potentially fatal condition. The pain comes from a multitude of blockages of tiny blood vessels, formed after the patient's own immune system somehow inhibits an enzyme that is vital to control clotting.

23 Jul 2015

CQDM, OCE grant $1.5M to speed up drug discovery and development in Quebec-Ontario Life Sciences Corridor

CQDM and Ontario Centres of Excellence will fund five highly innovative and unconventional game-changing research and development projects to accelerate drug discovery in the Quebec-Ontario Life Sciences Corridor. Partners are granting $1.5M to Quebec-based and, for the first time, Ontario-based researchers thanks to the partnership with OCE through CQDM's 2014 Explore Program, one of CQDM's flagship programs focusing on early concept validation of cutting-edge technologies that address the most crucial needs in drug discovery and development.

17 Jun 2015

BiOptix to release advances in protein engineering research at AAPS National Biotech Conference

BiOptix, a life science tools company that provides an affordable and powerful solution for drug discovery scientists that require label-free, real-time detection of biomolecular interactions, today announced the release of a new study on the biophysical analysis of biotherapeutics done in collaboration with Indiana University, the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.

10 Jun 2015

RI-MUHC researchers receive $1.5 million to develop glutamate biosensor platform for brain diseases

In the human brain and retina, glutamate is an important messenger that carries information from one neuron to another. The level of glutamate transmitted between neurons is crucial to cell communication: too high and neurons die, too low and the information is not communicated properly. In either case this can contribute to neurological diseases including stroke, glaucoma, and Alzheimer's.

29 May 2015

Six research teams awarded grant to accelerate discovery of new drugs for brain, nervous system disorders

CQDM, Brain Canada and the Ontario Brain Institute award close to $8.5M to six (6) multi-disciplinary and multi-provincial research teams across Canada to address unmet needs in neuroscience within their Focus on Brain strategic initiative. To this amount, $1.5M is added from the various research entities involved as in-kind contributions.

27 May 2015

Single-step fermentative method may facilitate industrial-scale statin drug production

University of Manchester researchers, together with industrial partner DSM, have developed a single-step fermentative method for the production of leading cholesterol-lowering drug, pravastatin, which will facilitate industrial-scale statin drug production.

27 Feb 2015

Recipients of The 2015 Protein Society Awards announced

The Protein Society, the premiere international society dedicated to supporting protein research, announces the winners of The 2015 Protein Society Awards. The awards will be conferred at the 29th Annual Symposium of The Protein Society (July 22-25, 2015, Barcelona, Spain).

5 Feb 2015

Using breath tests to diagnose liver diseases: an interview with Larry Cohen

It was back in the 1960s that scientists first started to understand that breath could be used to find out different things about diseases and other factors. I’m sure you’re familiar with alcohol breath testing, which was patented back in the ‘50s and has been used since the ‘60s.

19 Jan 2015

YEDA and XL-protein sign deal to commercialize PASylated IFN superagonis

YEDA Research and Development Company Ltd., the technology transfer arm of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, and XL-protein GmbH, Germany, a privately owned biopharmaceutical company, have signed a business collaboration agreement to commercialize a PASylated interferon superagonist -- PAS-YNSα8 -- which has been jointly developed by scientists at the Weizmann Institute and XL-protein.

21 Oct 2014

NPI leaders to invest more than $30M to support White House BRAIN Initiative

Leaders of the National Photonics Initiative (NPI), an alliance of top scientific societies uniting industry and academia to raise awareness of photonics, launched its Photonics Industry Neuroscience Group alongside officials from the White House Office of Science and Technology (OSTP) in conjunction with today's White House BRAIN Initiative conference.

30 Sep 2014

Researchers develop protein therapy that may stop cancer growth

A team of Stanford researchers has developed a protein therapy that disrupts the process that causes cancer cells to break away from original tumor sites, travel through the blood stream and start aggressive new growths elsewhere in the body.

22 Sep 2014

Zebrafish may hold key to unlocking a leading cause of respiratory diseases

A small freshwater fish found in many tropical aquariums may hold the key to unlocking one of the leading causes of respiratory diseases in humans.

17 Sep 2014

A*STAR scientists pioneered a molecular connection between obesity and diabetes

Scientists from the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, a research institute under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, have discovered that obese individuals lack a protein that is essential for regulating blood glucose levels, causing them to face higher risks of developing diabetes.

1 Jul 2014

UK's TSB provides £347,000 for project to optimise gene library assembly technology

Today, Monday 30th June, 2014, Isogenica, Cambridge UK and Imperial College London secure funding from the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), the UK's innovation agency, for a £347,000 project to optimise a gene library assembly technology for potential use in synthetic biology.

30 Jun 2014

Scientists develop new molecule for monitoring drug concentration

Monitoring the drug concentration in patients is critical for effective treatment, especially in cases of cancer, heart disease, epilepsy and immunosuppression after organ transplants.

9 Jun 2014