Drug Discovery News and Research

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The drug discovery process begins with recognizing a disease or clinical condition in which there is a lack of adequate medical treatment. Once a potential drug has been identified, pre-clinical research can begin. This process includes several stages; the first of which involves identifying and validating the prospective drug’s target through assay development, high throughput screening, hit identification and finally, lead optimization. Once the pre-clinical process is complete, the newly synthesized drug candidate is selected for future clinical development.

New treatment shows promise against hard-to-treat eye cancer

Eye cancer took the life of author and neurologist Oliver Sacks last year, bringing attention to the rare and deadly disease. Scientists have tried to develop precision treatments against cancers like this one, but the mutations that cause them have proven difficult to block with drugs.

3 Jun 2016

New IRAP inhibitors may hold promise for improving cognitive functions in animal models

Researchers have discovered three new inhibitors of insulin-regulated aminopeptidase (IRAP), compounds shown to improve cognitive functions in animal models of human disorders.

2 Jun 2016

Applying deep neural networks to predict pharmacologic properties of drugs and drug repurposing

Deep learning, frequently referred to as artificial intelligence, a branch of machine learning utilizing multiple layers of neurons to model high-level abstractions in data, has outperformed humans in tasks including image, text and voice recognition, autonomous driving and others, and is now being applied to drug discovery and biomarker development.

28 May 2016

Purdue researchers find potential way to overcome limitations posed by CAR T-cell therapy

Purdue University researchers may have figured out a way to call off a cancer cell assassin that sometimes goes rogue and assign it a larger tumor-specific "hit list."

24 May 2016

Chemical compound eCF506 may be highly effective at blocking growth of breast cancer cells

A drug for breast cancer that is more effective than existing medicines may be a step closer thanks to new research.

24 May 2016

Natural product darwinolide may help combat fatal MRSA infection

A serious and sometimes fatal bacterial infection, known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), may soon be beatable thanks to the efforts of University of South Florida scientists who have isolated and tested an extract from a sponge found in Antarctica.

19 May 2016

Ipsen partners with IMCB to advance understanding and research of Botulinum Neurotoxin Biology

Ipsen S.A., a global specialty-driven pharmaceutical company, and the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), a research institute under the aegis of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, today announced the signature of a research partnership to study the intracellular trafficking of botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) within neurons.

16 May 2016

Unlocking the dark proteome: an interview with Dr Kriwacki

The term dark proteome refers to proteins whose structural features and thus functions are not well understood. Many proteins within the dark proteome do not fold into stable three-dimensional structures. These proteins are called intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and feature highly flexible, disordered confirmations.

16 May 2016

TSRI chemists identify and design potent therapeutic ‘warheads’ for different diseases

In a pair of related studies, chemists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have identified and designed dozens of molecular “warheads” that not only can detect a key biomarker of cancer, but also could be developed into a potent new class of drug candidates for a range of diseases.

13 May 2016

High-throughput screening can help detect multiple compounds with potent antimicrobial activity

A new study in which researchers rapidly screened more than 11,000 bioactive molecules for activity against an antibiotic-resistant strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteria identified multiple compounds with potent antimicrobial activity.

12 May 2016

Thermo Fisher Scientific reinforces ongoing commitment to make advanced technologies more accessible to customers

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, today reinforced its ongoing commitment to help its customers accelerate innovation and enhance productivity.

12 May 2016

Fast, new way to rule out potentially dangerous drugs using optogenetics

A team of researchers at the George Washington University has developed a faster method to predict whether potential new drugs will cause heart arrhythmias using optogenetics, a technique that uses light to control cells.

11 May 2016

Scientists visualize apoptosis in live zebrafish using FLIM OPT method

A promising approach for watching cell signaling processes in their physiological context: Scientists visualize apoptosis in live zebrafish using fluorescence lifetime imaging with optical projection tomography to map FRET biosensor activity in space and time.

11 May 2016

Bruker showcases new products, analytical solutions for improved performance at Analytica 2016

This week at Analytica 2016, Bruker is showcasing new products and analytical solutions for improved performance and customer experience in pharmaceutical, industrial and applied markets.

From Bruker BioSpin - NMR, EPR and Imaging 11 May 2016

MUSC Hollings Cancer Center receives $8.9 million grant to explore signaling in sphingolipids

The Medical University of South Carolina's Hollings Cancer Center received an $8.9 million grant from the National Cancer Institute designed to foster collaboration across clinical and laboratory research for the study of signaling in sphingolipids, a class of lipids known to be involved in the growth of solid tumor cancers.

10 May 2016

Finding treatments for rare diseases: an interview with Dr Richard Thompson

It is estimated that around 400 rare diseases have licenced treatments, and a large proportion of these are a consequence of orphan drug legislation, which has helped to incentivise the production of drugs for small patient populations.

4 May 2016

Scientists identify novel way of synthesising promising new antibiotic

A novel way of synthesising a promising new antibiotic has been identified by scientists at the University of Bristol. By expressing the genes involved in the production of pleuromutilin in a different type of fungus, the researchers were able to increase production by more than 2,000 per cent.

4 May 2016

Key method to test compounds for anti-cancer activity in cells flawed, study reveals

The primary method used to test compounds for anti-cancer activity in cells is flawed, Vanderbilt University researchers report May 2 in Nature Methods. The findings cast doubt on methods used by the entire scientific enterprise and pharmaceutical industry to discover new cancer drugs.

3 May 2016

Integrating fiber optic biosensor into microfluidic chip may help in early diagnosis of diabetes

Insulin deficiency and hyperglycemia are two well-known culprits behind diabetes, both of which are reflected in blood glucose concentrations. Now, researchers are working to create ultrasensitive lab-on-a-chip devices to quickly measure glucose concentrations with the goal of developing device for early diagnosis and prevent of diabetes

29 Apr 2016

First small molecule targeted therapy holds promise for Usher syndrome

Usher syndrome (USH) is characterized by hearing loss or deafness at birth and progressive vision loss, and is the most common cause of inherited dual sensory deficit. No treatment is currently available to stop or slow the progression of vision or hearing loss in USH3, one of three clinical classifications for USH that are further divided into subtypes and all associated with different genes.

27 Apr 2016