New hope in the fight against RSV

Researchers discover promising drug candidate

13-Feb-2024 - The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes severe lower respiratory tract infections, particularly in young children. To date, there is neither an antiviral therapy against the virus nor a vaccination for children. This is why researchers led by Thomas Pietschmann at TWINCORE, a joint ...

Computer-engineered DNA to study cell identities

“We can follow with our eyes the color in a petri dish when we give a treatment”

12-Feb-2024 - A new computer program allows scientists to design synthetic DNA segments that indicate, in real time, the state of cells. Reported by the Gargiulo lab in “Nature Communications”, it will be used to screen for anti-cancer or viral infections drugs, or to improve gene and cell-based ...

Innovative 3D drug screening system

Research project to develop a 3D screening system to cultivate tissue and automatically stimulate and quantify its mechanical properties

11-May-2023 - Professor Timo Betz, University of Göttingen, has been awarded a Proof of Concept (PoC) grant by the European Research Council (ERC) for his “TissMec” project to develop a 3D screening system to cultivate tissue and automatically stimulate and quantify its mechanical properties. PoC ERC grants ...

Molecular Devices acquires Cellesce

“This enabling technology will make over 100,000 compound primary screens with PDOs a reality and will accelerate industry adoption of organoids”

19-Dec-2022 - Molecular Devices, LLC. announced the acquisition of Cellesce Ltd which specializes in contract development and manufacturing of large scale patient-derived organoids (PDOs) for diverse applications, including drug screening. Drug efficacy and toxicity testing often rely on immortalized cell ...

DESY X-ray lightsource identifies promising candidates for COVID drugs

Existing active substances bind to key virus protein

07-Apr-2021 - A team of researchers has identified several candidates for drugs against the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 at DESY´s high-brilliance X-ray lightsource PETRA III. They bind to an important protein of the virus and could thus be the basis for a drug against Covid-19. In a so-called X-ray screening, the ...

Novel label-free biosensor platform for innovate modern drug screening

lino Biotech closes seed financing round

19-Nov-2020 - After almost a decade of initial invention and joint research on the Focal Molography technology at Roche, a leading player in the diagnostics and pharmaceutical area, and ETH Zurich as one of Europe’s most renowned research institutes, lino Biotech AG has licensed the technology to further ...

Virtual screening for active substances against the coronavirus

11-Mar-2020 - The University of Basel is part of the global search for a drug to fight the rampant coronavirus. Researchers in the Computational Pharmacy group have so far virtually tested almost 700 million substances, targeting a specific site on the virus – with the aim of inhibiting its multiplication. Due ...

Utilizing CRISPR for better antibiotics

Drug screening with Mobile-CRISPRi

15-Jan-2019 - A University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher and his collaborators at the University of California, San Francisco have repurposed the gene-editing tool CRISPR to study which genes are targeted by particular antibiotics, providing clues on how to improve existing antibiotics or develop new ...

How fatal biofilms form

09-Oct-2018 - By severely curtailing the effects of antibiotics, the formation of organized communities of bacterial cells known as biofilms can be deadly during surgeries and in urinary tract infections. Yale researchers have just come a lot closer to understanding how these biofilms develop, and potentially ...

New dyes detect disease through heartbeat signals

18-Sep-2017 - Vibrant tones of yellow, orange, and red move in waves across the screen. Although the display looks like psychedelic art, it's actually providing highly technical medical information -- the electrical activity of a beating heart stained with voltage-sensitive dyes to test for injury or ...