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.

Beta blockers may improve effectiveness of triple negative breast cancer treatments

New research published in the March 2016 issue of The FASEB Journal, shows that a commonly prescribed class of high blood pressure drugs may have the potential to slow the growth of triple negative breast cancer tumors. These drugs, called "beta blockers" work by counteracting the pro-growth effect caused by adrenaline by affecting the the beta2-adrenoceptor.

2 Mar 2016

New screening technique to test drug compounds used in Ewing sarcoma treatment

In Ewing sarcoma, cancer cells' DNA is unwound abnormally from a condensed, compact state. Once sections of genetic code are open, key genes are turned on to help direct aggressive and cancerous cell growth.

1 Mar 2016

Novel therapeutic approach to target monomeric Tau protein

Dementia and other tauopathies, most notably Alzheimer's disease, embody a class of neurodegenerative diseases associated with the aggregation of the Tau protein in the human brain. These diseases represent one of the leading causes of death and disability in the elderly population in the western world, with no current effective therapy.

27 Feb 2016

Caribou Biosciences grants IDT worldwide rights to commercialize CRISPR-Cas9 reagents

Caribou Biosciences, Inc., a developer of CRISPR technologies for precision cell engineering, and Integrated DNA Technologies, Inc., a producer of custom synthetic oligonucleotide-based technologies for genomics applications, have entered into a non-exclusive license agreement under which Caribou has granted IDT worldwide rights to commercialize CRISPR-Cas9 reagents under Caribou’s intellectual property.

24 Feb 2016

Study could pave way for new treatment strategies for PKU

Phenylketonuria, also known as PKU, is the most common inherited disease affecting amino acid metabolism. Children are tested for PKU at birth, and babies diagnosed with the disease must adhere to a highly restricted diet to prevent permanent intellectual impairment.

16 Feb 2016

Bad technology choices contributing to increased drug development costs, say experts

The search for new medicines is becoming unsustainably expensive despite huge technological advances because researchers are using the wrong methods, experts say.

15 Feb 2016

CMU researchers create robotically-driven experimentation system to reduce drug discovery cost

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have created the first robotically driven experimentation system to determine the effects of a large number of drugs on many proteins, reducing the number of necessary experiments by 70 percent.

11 Feb 2016

TSRI scientists develop new screening device for drug discovery

Screening large "libraries" of compounds to find those with a desired biological activity is a powerful method for discovering new drugs, but requires a large, expensive and dedicated facility. Now, scientists at the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have devised the central component of a screening system that would be orders of magnitude smaller and cheaper.

11 Feb 2016

ZAO provides platform for scientists, clinicians to share new research and clinical data on Zika

ZAO provides a platform for scientists and clinicians to publish their findings and source data on Zika and its mosquito vectors within days of submission, so that research, medical and government personnel can keep abreast of the rapidly evolving outbreak.

10 Feb 2016

Alternative splicing: a new approach to drug development? An interview with Lucy Donaldson

RNA is becoming an interesting drug target as it takes possible intervention back one step to the synthesis of a target protein, instead of trying to block or inhibit a process.

1 Feb 2016

University of Leicester researchers publish structural details of protein linked to many types of cancer

A team from the University of Leicester has for the first time published a detailed description of a protein linked to many types of cancer.

27 Jan 2016

UC San Diego researchers develop rapid susceptibility test for Staphylococcus aureus

A team of biologists and biomedical researchers at UC San Diego has developed a new method to determine if bacteria are susceptible to antibiotics within a few hours, an advance that could slow the appearance of drug resistance and allow doctors to more rapidly identify the appropriate treatment for patients with life threatening bacterial infections.

25 Jan 2016

Biomedical innovation in the UK: an interview with Zahid Latif

The biomedical research base is one of the UK's strengths; over 1500 companies in the Pharmaceuticals and biotechnology area are established in the UK employing over 70,000.

22 Jan 2016

Scientists solve atomic structure of ubiquitin ligase complex that plays key role in protein degradation

Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute have solved the atomic structure of a unique ubiquitin ligase complex. Ubiquitin is best known for its role in protein degradation, but more recently seen as important for cell signaling, DNA repair, anti-inflammatory, and immune responses.

21 Jan 2016

Upsher-Smith, Saniona sign drug discovery and development agreement

Upsher-Smith Laboratories, Inc., through its wholly-owned subsidiary Proximagen Ltd., and Saniona, a leading biotech company in the field of ion channels, today announce that they have entered into a drug discovery and development collaboration.

20 Jan 2016

Four USF professors selected as AIMBE College of Fellows

Four University of South Florida professors have been elected to the 2016 College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE): Cesario Borlongan and Shyam Mohapatra from the USF Morsani College of Medicine, USF Health; and Robert Frisina, Jr., and Sudeep Sarkar from the USF College of Engineering.

20 Jan 2016

Drug Discovery News and Research

Further Reading

Beta blockers may improve effectiveness of triple negative breast cancer treatments

New screening technique to test drug compounds used in Ewing sarcoma treatment

Novel therapeutic approach to target monomeric Tau protein

Caribou Biosciences grants IDT worldwide rights to commercialize CRISPR-Cas9 reagents

Study could pave way for new treatment strategies for PKU

Bad technology choices contributing to increased drug development costs, say experts

CMU researchers create robotically-driven experimentation system to reduce drug discovery cost

TSRI scientists develop new screening device for drug discovery

ZAO provides platform for scientists, clinicians to share new research and clinical data on Zika

Alternative splicing: a new approach to drug development? An interview with Lucy Donaldson

University of Leicester researchers publish structural details of protein linked to many types of cancer

UC San Diego researchers develop rapid susceptibility test for Staphylococcus aureus

Biomedical innovation in the UK: an interview with Zahid Latif

Scientists solve atomic structure of ubiquitin ligase complex that plays key role in protein degradation

Upsher-Smith, Saniona sign drug discovery and development agreement

Four USF professors selected as AIMBE College of Fellows

New method helps generate cardiac cells for heart disease studies, drug discovery

University of Copenhagen researchers develop new cell line to investigate brain drugs

Scientists discover protein interaction that describes aggressive subtype of medulloblastoma

McMaster University researchers take a giant leap in detecting early stages of leukemia

eBook: Essential guide to organoids in drug discovery eBook

Leveraging the power of automation to boost research

Automating research - solutions and best practices

How can microdialysis benefit drug development

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