Small Molecules News and Research

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Scientists identify key protein behind drug-resistant leukemia

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL, is the most common form of childhood cancer. While most children treated for this disease survive, in a subgroup of patients the disease does not respond to treatment.

19 May 2011

New York Academy of Sciences and Zeltia to host marine drug discovery forum on May 20, 2011

Substances produced by living organisms found in nature-so-called "natural products"-have played a critical role in the development of drugs for life-threatening conditions. The anticancer agent Taxol was sourced from a plant, penicillin from a fungus, and a number of recent breakthroughs have resulted in the development and approval of anticancer drugs derived from marine sources such as coral and sponges.

16 May 2011

UCSD scientists discover steroid hormone that inhibits brain inflammation

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered a steroid hormone that inhibits inflammation in the brain. The findings, to be published in the May 13 issue of the journal Cell, have implications for understanding the exaggerated inflammatory responses that are characteristic features of numerous neurodegenerative diseases.

13 May 2011

Enzon first quarter adjusted loss from continuing operations decreases to $4.2 million

Enzon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2011.

7 May 2011

Techne acquires Tocris Holdings

Techne Corporation announced today that it has acquired 100% ownership of Tocris Holdings Limited and subsidiaries, a leading supplier of reagents for non-clinical life science research.

3 May 2011

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announces 88 new winners under Grand Challenges Exploration program

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced 88 new winners of US$100,000 each to support innovative research that has the potential to dramatically improve lives in some of the world's poorest countries. The funding, made possible through the Grand Challenges Exploration (GCE) program, will enable researchers worldwide to test unorthodox ideas that address persistent health and development challenges.

30 Apr 2011

Scientists identify new risk gene variant for depression

Max Planck scientists uncover surprising genetic links. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry in Munich have compared the genomes of a total of 4,088 patients and 11,001 healthy control subjects from all over the world and identified a new risk gene variant for depression.

28 Apr 2011

Proteostasis acquires Harvard University's two novel protein target licenses

Proteostasis Therapeutics announced today that it has acquired two exclusive licenses from Harvard University to technologies for enhancing the activity of a key cellular protein clearance mechanism, the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway.

27 Apr 2011

Researchers report game-changing advance in stem cell science

In a paper published in the April 25 early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco and colleagues report a game-changing advance in stem cell science: the creation of long-term, self-renewing, primitive neural precursor cells from human embryonic stem cells that can be directed to become many types of neuron without increased risk of tumor formation.

26 Apr 2011

Scientists discover 'small molecule' substance that blocks cholesterol formation in the brain

A needle-in-the-haystack search through nearly 390,000 chemical compounds had led scientists to a substance that can sneak through the protective barrier surrounding the brain with effects promising for new drugs for Parkinson's and Huntington's disease. They report on the substance, which blocks formation of cholesterol in the brain, in the journal, ACS Chemical Biology.

21 Apr 2011

OSU biophysicist leverages computer cluster to develop drug to block small protein molecule IL-6

An Ohio State biophysicist used a supercomputer to search thousands of molecular combinations for the best configuration to block a protein that can cause breast or prostate cancer.

20 Apr 2011

Ohio State biophysicist disrupts cellular messages through fragment-based drug design

An Ohio State biophysicist used a supercomputer to search thousands of molecular combinations for the best configuration to block a protein that can cause breast or prostate cancer.

19 Apr 2011

Researchers identify TrkB antagonist with anxiolytic, antidepressant activity

An estimated 19 million Americans suffer from depression, and though the symptoms might be recognizable, the brain chemistry that underlies them is incompletely understood.

19 Apr 2011

Eye physicians need to include low-cost molecular medicine in their tool box

Dr. Richer, speaking at his 4th annual Nutrition & The Eye conference, April 16-17, hosted by the College of Optometry at the University of Missouri in St. Louis, says molecular medicine is beginning to provide hope for patients with declining sight when all other therapies have been exhausted.

18 Apr 2011

Scientists identify novel small molecules that block human tumor cell growth

Researchers from the Cancer Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center have identified three novel small molecules that interrupt a crucial cellular communication pathway that regulates many aspects of development and cancer.

15 Apr 2011

T2 Biosystems' technology platform demonstrates ability to detect Candida organisms in whole blood samples

T2 Biosystems, Inc., a company developing next-generation diagnostic products, presented data today on the rapid and sensitive detection of five species of the fungal infection Candida at the Annual Meeting of the Mycoses Study Group in Philadelphia, PA.

8 Apr 2011

Zacharon, Pfizer enter research collaboration to develop drugs for orphan diseases

Zacharon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the company has entered into a strategic research collaboration with Pfizer Inc. to develop drugs for orphan diseases, including lysosomal storage disorders. The potential value of the collaboration to Zacharon is approximately USD $210 million. The collaboration includes the potential development of compounds that may be discovered using Zacharon's innovative platform for developing small molecule drugs targeting specific carbohydrate polymers or glycans.

7 Apr 2011

Certain microparticles help terminate inflammation

Scientists at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry and Harvard Medical School, Boston have found a way of mimicking the body's natural mechanism of fighting inflammation. During inflammation cells release very small particles termed 'microparticles' that retain features of their parent cell.

5 Apr 2011

Rsearchers define new step that controls programmed cell death in cancer cells

When cells find themselves in a tight spot, the cell cycle regulator p21 halts the cell cycle, buying cells time to repair the damage, or if all else fails, to initiate programmed cell death.

2 Apr 2011

Loss of SKIP sensitizes cancer cells to apoptotic effects of DNA damage-inducing anticancer drugs

When cells find themselves in a tight spot, the cell cycle regulator p21 halts the cell cycle, buying cells time to repair the damage, or if all else fails, to initiate programmed cell death. In contrast to other stress-induced genes, which dispense with the regular transcriptional entourage, p21Cip1 still requires SKIP, a transcription elongation factor that also helps with the editing of transcripts, to be expressed, found researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.