Tiny sensors for major advances

Using NMR spectrometry to analyse important molecules that have not been accessible before now

18-May-2021 - An international research team involving the working group of biophysicist Dr. Manuel Etzkorn from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) has developed an approach for using NMR spectrometry to analyse important molecules that have not been accessible before now. In the journal Angewandte ...

New treatment target for melanoma identified

18-Jan-2018 - Researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have identified a new therapeutic target for the treatment of melanoma. For decades, research has associated female sex and a history of previous pregnancy with better outcomes after a melanoma diagnosis. Now, a ...

Individual Receptors Caught at Work

Technological developments allow new insights

23-Oct-2017 - Using a revolutionary live-cell microscopy technique, an international team of scientist has observed for the first time individual receptors for hormones and widely used drugs at work in intact cells. G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are among the "hottest” targets for the therapy of diseases ...

How receptors for medicines work inside cells

07-Sep-2017 - G protein-coupled receptors are the key target of a large number of drugs. Würzburg scientists have now been able to show more precisely how these receptors act in the cell interior. The human genome encodes hundreds of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). These form the largest group of ...

Unexpected protein structure findings could lead to new therapies

07-Apr-2017 - Scientists have determined unexpected characteristics of a key protein linked to blood pressure control and to nerve growth, pain control and heart tissue regeneration. The findings opens doors to potential new therapies to control cardiovascular disease and pain. The protein, called AT2, is one ...

A gene's journey from covert to celebrated

25-Jan-2017 - Like a bank robber on the lam, Gpr182 had assumed a variety of identities over several decades: G10D, HrhAMR, Gamrh, 7TMR, ADMR. Unable to put a finger on what exactly the gene does, scientists largely left it alone. The protein it codes for was designated an "orphan" receptor -- a lock on the ...

Structure of CCR9 chemokine receptor solved

Offering opportunity to apply structure-based design across chemokine receptor family

08-Dec-2016 - Heptares Therapeutics announces that its scientists have solved the high-resolution X-ray crystal structure of the CCR9 receptor, a member of the chemokine receptor family. This family of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) has diverse roles in immune defence by controlling the migration, ...

Researchers identified an important signaling molecule of cell communication

30-Mar-2016 - International scientists led by Carsten Hoffmann and Martin Lohse of the University Würzburg, Germany, identified for the first timeβ-Arrestin as an independent signaling molecule. The protein modulates a pharmaceutically important pathway. It leads to new drug targets, for example in pain ...

New insights into the function of the main class of drug targets

05-Feb-2016 - About thirty percent of all medical drugs such as beta-blockers or antidepressants interact with certain types of cell surface proteins called G protein coupled receptors. In collaboration with researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute, the group of Prof. Stephan Grzesiek at the Biozentrum of ...

How drug molecules regulate a medically important protein

14-Dec-2015 - A new study, led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), shows how different pharmaceutical drugs hit either the "on" or "off" switch of a signaling protein linked to asthma, obesity and type 2 diabetes. "The long-term goal is to use this knowledge to help discover new drugs," ...