News by Subject Medicine & Health

Duke researchers have identified a potential drug candidate against enterovirus 71, a common cause of hand, foot and mouth disease in infants and young children. The compound of interest is a small molecule that binds to RNA, the virus's genetic material, and changes its 3-D shape in a way that stops the virus from multiplying without harming its human host. It's an antiviral strategy that could be used on other hard-to-treat diseases.

In a new study, Shaopeng Wang and his colleagues describe a method for examining proteins in keen detail. To do this, his group makes clever use of a phenomenon known as surface plasmon resonance (SPR), incorporating it into an innovative type of microscope.

For the first time, scientists at UNC-Chapel Hill and Stanford solved the high-resolution structure of these compounds when they are actively bound to the 5-HT2A serotonin receptor on the surface of brain cells. This discovery is already leading to the exploration of more precise compounds that could eliminate hallucinations but still have strong therapeutic effects. Psilocybin - the psychedelic compound in mushrooms - has already been granted breakthrough status by the FDA to treat depression.

International scientific group compared their developed carriers for delivery of genome editing (GE) tools with other available analogues. The research of current studies were published in the in the journal Biomaterials.

A recent study from Finland reports that a protein kinase called LRRK2 is hyperactive in skin samples from Parkinson's disease patients which leads to a decrease in protein synthesis. This new finding could help in the development of new treatments for Parkinson's disease.