Drug Development
Pill may prevent Listeria infection
January 12, 2012 8:42 am | News | CommentsModified probiotics, the beneficial bacteria touted for their role in digestive health, could one day decrease the risk of Listeria infection in people with susceptible immune systems, according to Purdue University research.
Ariel Pharmaceuticals signs CRADA with U.S. military
January 11, 2012 5:12 am | News | CommentsAriel Pharmaceuticals, a private, development-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of products for indications in acute central nervous system diseases and trauma, announced it has signed a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the United States Army Medical Research and Material Command.
Tiny roundworm points to big promise
January 6, 2012 10:16 am | News | CommentsTwo related studies from Northwestern University offer new strategies for tackling the challenges of preventing and treating diseases of protein folding. The research identified new genes and pathways that prevent protein misfolding and toxic aggregation, keeping cells healthy, and also identified small molecules with therapeutic potential that restore health to damaged cells, providing new targets for drug development.
2012 Global R & D Funding Forecast: Industrial R & D—Life Science
December 16, 2011 4:15 am | by Martin Grueber, Research Leader, Battelle and Tim Studt, Editor-in-Chief, Advantage Business Media | Articles | CommentsThe life science segment includes diverse firms such as multinational pharmaceutical corporations, large medical device and instrument companies, and both large and small biotechnology firms. Though primarily engaged in human health care, firms in this segment are also involved in animal health and agricultural biosciences, and many operate in multiple areas.
Research helps shed light on medicinal benefits of plants
December 15, 2011 10:36 am | News | CommentsScientists at Purdue University and eight other institutions have developed new resources poised to unlock another door in the hidden garden of medicinally important compounds found in plants.
Nature's medicine cabinet could yield hundreds of new drugs
December 13, 2011 4:49 am | News | CommentsAccording to a new analysis by a New York Botanical Garden scientist, there are probably at least 500 medically useful chemicals awaiting discovery in plant species whose chemical constituents have not yet been evaluated for their potential to cure or treat disease.
Survey reveals scientists have trouble accessing stem cell lines
December 12, 2011 9:39 am | News | CommentsThe promise of stem cell research for drug discovery and cell-based therapies depends on the ability of scientists to acquire stem cell lines for their research. A survey of more than 200 human embryonic stem cell researchers in the United States found that nearly four in ten researchers have faced excessive delay in acquiring a human embryonic stem cell line and that more than one-quarter were unable to acquire a line they wanted to study.
Biologists deliver neutralizing antibodies that protect against HIV
December 1, 2011 3:07 am | News | CommentsOver the past year, researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and around the world, have been studying a group of potent antibodies that have the ability to neutralize HIV in the laboratory; their hope is that they may learn how to create a vaccine that makes antibodies with similar properties. Now, biologists at Caltech have taken one step closer to that goal: They have developed a way to deliver these antibodies to mice and, in so doing, have effectively protected them from HIV infection.
Georgia Tech develops software designed to improve drug development
November 16, 2011 8:05 am | News | CommentsA research team headed by the Georgia Institute of Technology has developed a computer program that can study larger molecules (more than 200 atoms) faster than any other program in existence, helping in pursuit of creating new pharmaceuticals.
Breakthrough opens elusive compounds to drug research
November 7, 2011 7:02 am | News | CommentsThe family of complex compounds known as taxanes are exceedingly difficult to produce in the lab, limiting the use of Taxol, an important cancer drug, and hindering the discovery of related taxadienes. Scripps Research Institute scientists have found a way to simplify this process, potentially opening up new drug leads.
Model of enzyme's structure could spur new therapies
November 7, 2011 5:22 am | News | CommentsScientists have determined the structure of an enzyme complex that regulates vital cell functions. Disregulation of such complexes is associated with diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's. The new work provides drug developers with a specific and unique new target to consider in their efforts to find new treatments.
Nanotechnology makes medicine greener
November 3, 2011 12:26 pm | News | CommentsResearchers at the University of Copenhagen are behind the development of a new method that will make it possible to develop drugs faster and greener. This will lead to cheaper medicine for consumers.
Sanford-Burnham, Pfizer collaborate to speed drug discovery
November 3, 2011 6:12 am | News | CommentsSanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute has partnered with Pfizer Inc. as part of Pfizer's commitment to transforming research and development through a focus on translational medicine.
Cancer cell attacks require the right kind of weapon
October 25, 2011 8:13 am | News | CommentsMathew Maye’s laboratory at Syracuse University has invented a new way to attach DNA to gold nanoparticles. His method has inspired another Syracuse researcher, James Dabrowiak, to attach chemotherapy drugs to the DNA-coated gold, forming a potentially powerful way to attack cancer cells.
Scientists target bacteria 'quorum sensing' as route to antibacterial therapies
October 25, 2011 7:11 am | News | CommentsAmong the complex molecular processes involved in the development of bacteria-borne disease is quorum sensing, the way bacteria communicate and coordinate collective behaviors. By studying how to inhibit quorum sensing, scientists may be able create antibacterial pharmaceuticals for a variety of ailments.
Complete automation for cell cultivation
October 10, 2011 4:44 am | News | CommentsUntil now, the basis of day-to-day research work in cell-based laboratories involved the tending of cell cultures by hand. Scientists in Dresden have now created system that completely automates the process of cultivating cells, offering the potential for faster research.
Clinical trial uncovers potential cure for HIV
October 6, 2011 10:33 am | News | CommentsData from a clinical trial involving University of California, Los Angeles researchers suggest that a new therapy may potentially serve as a "functional cure" for HIV/AIDS. The therapy, called SB-728-T, involves the modification of both copies of a patient's CCR5 gene, which encodes the major co-receptor used by HIV to infect immune system cells.
Purdue part of institute awarded up to $35 million by FDA
October 6, 2011 6:38 am | News | CommentsPurdue University is part of a national institute that received a grant of up to $35 million over the next five years from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA awarded the grant to the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Technology and Education, or NIPTE, to improve manufacturing standards and ultimately cut health care costs, create jobs, and improve drug safety.
Rutgers, UMDNJ research provides insight into fighting viruses
September 30, 2011 5:16 am | News | CommentsResearchers at Rutgers University and UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School have determined the structure of a protein that is the first line of defense in fighting viral infections including influenza, hepatitis C, West Nile, rabies, and measles.
SwRI receives contract to develop drug formulation to treat cyanide exposure
September 16, 2011 10:38 am | News | CommentsSouthwest Research Institute was awarded a $4.4 million contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to develop a nasal-delivery, first-line treatment system to combat cyanide poisoning.
Scientists reengineer antibiotic to overcome resistent bacteria
August 25, 2011 7:32 am | News | CommentsA team of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have successfully reengineered an important antibiotic to kill the deadliest antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The researchers report the finding has clinical significance.
Scientists create natural Alzheimer's-fighting compound in lab
August 25, 2011 4:20 am | News | CommentsScientists at Yale University have developed the first practical method to create a compound called huperzine A in the laboratory. The compound, which occurs naturally in a species of moss found in China, is an enzyme inhibitor that has been used to treat Alzheimer's disease in China since the late 1990s and is sold in the U.S. as a dietary supplement to help maintain memory.
Cresset, Redx Pharma announce drug discovery collaboration
August 24, 2011 7:50 am | News | CommentsCresset and Redx Pharma announced that they have signed a major drug discovery collaboration, which gives Redx Pharma access to Cresset's computational chemistry technologies for use on their portfolio of drug discovery programs.
Sweet discovery could speed drug development
August 22, 2011 5:06 am | News | CommentsIn a new study, University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have described a simple process to separate sugars from a carrier molecule, then attach them to a drug or other chemical.
New drug could cure nearly any viral infection
August 10, 2011 4:34 am | by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office | News | CommentsMost bacterial infections can be treated with antibiotics such as penicillin. However, such drugs are useless against viral infections. Now, in a development that could transform how viral infections are treated, a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory has designed a drug that can identify cells that have been infected by any type of virus, then kill those cells to terminate the infection.
