Small Molecules News and Research

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Discovery of molecule ‘superfamily’ that causes melanoma apread

A University of Nebraska Medical Center research team has determined that a superfamily of molecules holds the secret to the progression and spread of melanoma -- the deadliest form of skin cancer. The study results were published in the May 13 of the British Journal of Cancer.

13 May 2009

IBM and University of Texas Medical Branch launch effort to find flu drug treatments

IBM and the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) launched an effort using IBM's World Community Grid "virtual supercomputer" to allow laboratory tests on drug candidates for drug-resistant influenza strains and new strains, such as H1N1, in less than a month.

6 May 2009

Small molecules might block mutant protein production in Huntington's disease

Molecules that selectively interfere with protein production can stop human cells from making the abnormal molecules that cause Huntington's disease, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

5 May 2009

Small molecules might block mutant protein production in Huntington's disease

3 May 2009

RNA production revs up during cell-to-cell contact

MicroRNAs are single-stranded snippets that, not long ago, were given short shrift as genetic junk. Now that studies have shown they regulate genes involved in normal functioning as well as diseases such as cancer, everyone wants to know: What regulates microRNAs?

3 May 2009

New cancer centre launched in Southampton

Southampton joins a unique chain of Cancer Research UK Centres that are being launched across the UK.

29 Apr 2009

Breakthrough in generating safer, therapeutic stem cells from adult cells

The new technique solves one of the most challenging safety hurdles associated with personalized stem cell-based medicine because for the first time it enables scientists to make stem cells in the laboratory from adult cells without genetically altering them.

23 Apr 2009

Chemists synthesize natural alkaloid that could have anti-cancer properties

The club moss Lycopodium serratum is a creeping, flowerless plant used in homeopathic medicine to treat a wide variety of ailments.

15 Apr 2009

microRNAs manipulate cells to one day create safe embryonic-like stem cells

A team of UCSF researchers has for the first time used tiny molecules called microRNAs to help turn adult mouse cells back to their embryonic state.

12 Apr 2009

ImQuest presents data on the anti-hepatitis B virus activity of Pyrimidinediones

ImQuest Life Sciences today presented important new results on the continued development of the pyrimidinedione small molecules as antiviral agents at the 13th International Symposium on Viral Hepatitis and Liver Disease meeting held last week in Washington D.C.

31 Mar 2009

New molecular force probe stretches molecules, atom by atom

Chemists at the University of Illinois have created a simple and inexpensive molecular technique that replaces an expensive atomic force microscope for studying what happens to small molecules when they are stretched or compressed.

30 Mar 2009

New approach to prostate cancer detection - Sarcosine may distinguish between slow-growing and aggressive prostate cancers

On Friday 20 March, US researcher Dr. Chris Beecher from the University of Michigan gave a well attended lecture about sarcosine, an N-methyl derivative of the amino acid glycine, at the 24th Annual EAU Congress in Stockholm, Sweden.

25 Mar 2009

Radius starts Ppase 2a trial of RAD1901 in menopausal hot flashes

Radius Health ("Radius") announced today that the first patient has been dosed in the company's proof-of-concept Phase 2a study of RAD1901, an investigational selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) undergoing clinical evaluation for treatment of vasomotor symptoms (menopausal hot flashes).

24 Mar 2009

Small molecules block cancer gene

Finding molecules that block the activity of the oncogene Stat 3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription) required screening literally millions of compounds, using computers that compared the structure of the cancer-causing gene to those of the small molecules, said a Baylor College of Medicine researcher in a report that appears in the current online issue of the journal PLoS One (Public Library of Science ONE).

11 Mar 2009

Scientists discover key molecules that inhibit viral production

The research, led by Professor Donny Strosberg of Scripps Florida, was published on March 4, 2009, in the Journal of General Virology's advance, online edition, Papers in Press.

11 Mar 2009

Protein function and chromatin structure methods featured in Cold Spring Harbor Protocols

Two new methods for analyzing the roles played by proteins in cells are featured in the March issue of Cold Spring Harbor Protocols.

3 Mar 2009

Instant immunity through chemically programmable vaccination and covalent self-assembly

The experiments, thus far performed only in mice, appear to overcome a major drawback of vaccinations - the lag time of days, or even weeks, that it normally takes for immunity to build against a pathogen.

2 Mar 2009

Protein complex shown to play pivotal role in stem cell development

Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified a protein complex important in controlling whether embryonic stem cells retain their ability to become any cell in the body - a quality called pluripotency - or instead embark on a pathway of maturation and specialization.

2 Mar 2009

Compounds that trigger beta cell replication identified

Researchers at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) have identified a set of compounds that can trigger the proliferation of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, using sophisticated high-throughput screening techniques.

25 Feb 2009

Take 2: What protein and where it is located are important for drug design

Drugs that target a single signaling pathway that drives tumor development and/or progression have been developed successfully to treat a few forms of cancer.

23 Feb 2009