Biologics

Bioprinted veins reveal new drug diffusion details

4 August 2017 | By Dr Zara Kassam (Drug Target Review)

A scientific collaboration has developed vascularised 3-D bioprinted liver tissue constructs, providing more precise drug toxicity testing...

New data network for Huntington’s disease research

17 July 2017 | By Niamh Marriott (Drug Target Review)

The first data network for this research could also be the blueprint for similar data networks for research into other conditions...

Elsevier launches The Hive to showcase Pharma/ biotech start-ups

14 July 2017 | By Niamh Marriott (Drug Target Review)

Elsevier has announced that applications and nominations for The Hive, its innovation hub for biotech and pharmaceutical startups, are now open.

Gut bacteria can help predict how body responds to fatty foods

12 July 2017 | By Niamh Marriott (Drug Target Review)

Chemical signatures from gut bacteria which show up in urine can be used to predict how the body will respond to a 'junk' diet.

Extra funding for nanomaterials for cancer immunotherapy research

5 July 2017 | By Niamh Marriott (Drug Target Review)

The DFG has agreed to fund the Mainz-based Collaborative Research Center involved in the development of nanomaterials for cancer immunotherapy...

Study asks if mistaken antibodies led research down 20-year dead end

3 July 2017 | By Niamh Marriott (Drug Target Review)

For nearly two decades researchers have sought a way to target an oestrogen receptor in the hope they could improve breast cancer survival, but an article contends that the effort may never pan out.

Screening for genetic diseases & chromosomal defects with a single biopsy

14 June 2017 | By Niamh Marriott (Drug Target Review)

Couples who are undergoing pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) in order to avoid transmission of inherited diseases, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy or cystic fibrosis, should also have their embryos screened for abnormal numbers of chromosomes at the same time, say Italian researchers.

Water forms chiral superstructure around DNA, reports group

26 May 2017 | By Cornell University

Water is the most essential resource of life, but it's also something of a mystery due to its unique solvation characteristics - how things dissolve in it.

Making biological drugs with spider silk protein

25 May 2017 | By Sarah Wills (Drug Target Review)

Researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have managed to synthesise lung surfactant, a drug used in the care of preterm babies, by mimicking the production of spider silk.

Molecular Devices

Mechanism-informed phenotypic screening – the missing link for cancer drug discovery?

8 June 2016 | By David S. Bailey (IOTA Pharmaceuticals), Sheraz Gul (Fraunhofer-IME SP)

Cancer cells exhibit huge phenotypic diversity, with many well-defined phenotypes, such as invasion, deregulated proliferation and immune evasion, contributing to disease outcomes, making them uniquely amenable to phenotypic screening1...

Antibody fragment technology and avian IgY antibodies: a powerful combination

5 February 2016 | By Carol Harley (IBMC and i3S), Ricardo Vieira-Pires (University of Coimbra)

Recombinant monoclonal antibodies or antibody biologics have been successfully developed as diagnostic and therapeutic agents...