Drug Discovery

Drug target and candidate for paediatric heart failure identified

23 November 2020 | By Victoria Rees (Drug Target Review)

A group of researchers has found a drug candidate named TRV027 that can increase the cardiac contractility of neonatal mice.

Scientists unveil virtual reality tool for COVID-19 drug development

13 November 2020 | By Hannah Balfour (Drug Target Review)

The tool uses interactive molecular dynamics simulations in virtual reality (iMD-VR) to allow researchers to step inside SARS-CoV-2 enzymes and visualise molecules binding to them.

Cell line development services market to grow at 13.3 percent

12 November 2020 | By Hannah Balfour (Drug Target Review)

Reports suggest the market growth is driven by advances in biotechnology and its applications, as well as COVID-19 research.

Researchers use somatostatin to treat Alzheimer’s in mice

4 November 2020 | By Victoria Rees (Drug Target Review)

A team fused the peptide somatostatin to a brain transport protein and found it treated memory loss associated with Alzheimer's in mice.

IDBS

D-serine could protect against epileptic seizures

15 October 2020 | By Hannah Balfour (Drug Target Review)

Scientist identified the mechanism through which temporal lobe epileptic seizures are sparked and that D-serine can interfere with this process, preventing seizures.

Novel antimicrobial molecules derived from wasp venom

13 October 2020 | By Hannah Balfour (Drug Target Review)

Altering the mastoparan-L (mast-L) peptide found in Vespula lewisii wasp venom, researchers created several novel antimicrobial molecules.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to scientists who discovered CRISPR-Cas9

12 October 2020 | By Victoria Rees (Drug Target Review)

Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna have been given the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discovery and development of CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing. 

New class of inhibitors protect mice from neurodegeneration

9 October 2020 | By Victoria Rees (Drug Target Review)

So called "interface inhibitors" could be used to protect against neurodegeneration, researchers have said.

New treatment could reverse vision loss caused by retinopathy

6 October 2020 | By Victoria Rees (Drug Target Review)

Researchers have developed an experimental compound that could treat vision loss in premature infants and adults. 

Platform for hit-to-lead identification of antibacterial lysins developed

6 October 2020 | By Victoria Rees (Drug Target Review)

A group of scientists has created a novel high-throughput hit-to-lead development platform to identify engineered antibacterial lysins. 

Novel RNA-targeting molecule can halt SARS-CoV-2 replication

1 October 2020 | By Hannah Balfour (Drug Target Review)

The C5 compound targets the frameshifting element that allows SARS-CoV-2 to effectively replicate and marks the genome for destruction to stop the infection spreading.

Could a sphingosine nasal spray prevent COVID-19?

30 September 2020 | By Hannah Balfour (Drug Target Review)

According to a study, the lipid sphingosine can inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection and could potentially be delivered in a nasal spray to prevent COVID-19 infections.

Novel compounds show efficacy against C. diff

28 September 2020 | By Hannah Balfour (Drug Target Review)

Researchers have developed two novel trifluoromethylthio compounds which showed potent activity in protecting mice from Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) infection.

Assay that mimics SARS-CoV-2 infection could test potential COVID-19 drugs

22 September 2020 | By Victoria Rees (Drug Target Review)

Scientists have developed a new assay that uses nanoparticles to mimic how SARS-CoV-2 infects a cell, which could be used to screen for drugs that treat COVID-19.