News by Subject Chemistry & Physics

Scientists have for the first time found direct causal links between the neurotransmitter dopamine and avoidance -- behavior related to pain and fear. Researchers have long known that dopamine plays a key role in driving behavior related to pleasurable goals, such as food, sex and social interaction. In general, increasing dopamine boosts the drive toward these stimuli. But dopamine's role in allowing organisms to avoid negative events has remained mysterious.

A preliminary study suggests that an investigational drug may help increase protein levels in babies with spinal muscular atrophy. The open-label study is released today and will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 70th Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, April 21-27, 2018.

This month's issue of the journal Molecular & Cellular Proteomics features several studies using novel proteomics methods to address unanswered questions in cancer research, including protein variation within tumors; the failure of some candidate cancer drugs; and how chemotherapeutic combinations act synergistically.

Despite the great successes of targeted cancer drugs and the promise of novel immunotherapies, the vast majority of people diagnosed with cancer are still first treated with chemotherapy. Now a new study by UCSF researchers using techniques drawn from computational biology could make it much easier for physicians to use the genetic profile of a patient's tumor to pick the chemotherapy treatment with the fewest side effects and best chance of success.

People who have tried unsuccessfully to prevent migraine with other treatments may find relief with a drug called erenumab, according to a preliminary study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 70th Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, April 21 to 27, 2018.

Using chemotherapy along with aptamers -- lab-made molecules that function like antibodies -- Duke Health researchers showed that they can zero in on and kill prostate cancer tumors in mice while leaving healthy tissue unscathed.

'What we find is that dabrafenib, even at high doses, does not fully turn off the MAPK pathway, thereby enabling eventual escape from drug,' says Sabrina Spencer, Ph.D.