Developing nanobodies and sybodies to combat COVID-19
Three separate studies have identified nanobodies – a miniature form of antibodies found in camelid species – that can bind to the SARS-CoV-2 Spike (S) protein and neutralise the virus in cells.
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Articles
Treating cytokine storms in COVID-19 patients
Enosi Life Science researchers Sir Marc Feldmann, Dr H Michael Shepard and Dr Fiona McCann explain why anti-TNF therapies may be effective in treating COVID-19 associated cytokine storms and other inflammatory conditions.
Could GPCRs be causing people to respond differently to the same drug?
Hannah Balfour explores how genetic variation in G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and the proteins that regulate the duration of G protein signalling could be contributing to disease and people’s divergent responses to the same therapeutics.
Developing IL-15 superagonists for cancer therapy
Richard Sachse discusses how immunotherapies targeting interleukin 15 (IL-15) signalling can be optimised to enhance their efficacy and limit off-target effects.
How do general anaesthetics cause loss of consciousness?
Inhaled general anaesthetics have been used for over 100 years and continue to be used daily for surgeries around the world. But how do they induce changes to consciousness? This article explores the research that suggests the anaesthetics chloroform and isoflurane disrupt the organisation of lipid rafts within cellular membranes…
The next generation of cancer immunotherapies: re-exploring the IL-2 pathway
In this article, Dr Bruce Dezube explains why new cancer immunotherapy drugs that utilise the IL-2 pathway with lower side effects could offer more benefits compared to high-dose IL-2 treatment.
Cocaine and the brain: identifying targets for addiction therapies
There are currently no licenced pharmaceuticals to treat cocaine addiction. To overcome this issue, US researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have been exploring how cocaine alters transcription in the nucleus accumbens, a region of the brain implicated in compulsive drug use. Here, Hannah Balfour discusses with Dr…
COVID-19 therapies in the pipeline
As the global COVID-19 situation is rapidly changing, staying abreast with the latest news can be challenging. In this article, Sheraz Gul provides an overview of the broad range of potential treatments in development and discusses how the regulatory landscape can shift at any time.
Understanding the limits of synthetic biology through the origins of SARS-CoV-2
Conspiracy theories about COVID-19 have been spreading since the early days of the outbreak. But how do we know whether a biological entity is artificially made or has occurred naturally? Marc Baiget Francesch explores the capabilities of current scientific approaches in terms of virus engineering and how this applies to…
Exploring the intra-protein non-covalent interactions in the S1 domain of the SARS-CoV-2 S1 Spike protein
The Spike (S) protein is a promising drug target in the quest to develop vaccines and antivirals for SARS-CoV-2 to treat and prevent COVID-19. Intra-protein interaction energy landscape mapping efforts have recently identified key interactions that may be crucial for the S protein’s ability to bind to receptor proteins on…
Adding to the arsenal: targeting human proteins for controlling M. tuberculosis growth
The National Institute of Health envisions a plan for managing tuberculosis in the 21st century. Included in this proposal is targeting host proteins as an add-on therapy to antibiotics. Infectious disease biologists are focusing on this strategy and it is a topic of active research. Recently, a multinational research team…
Exploring new drug targets in Alzheimer’s disease
Although many potential targets have been identified for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), there is no effective treatment for this debilitating condition. In this article, Monika Schmidt and Sheraz Gul delve into the key proteins implicated in AD and suggest how phenotypic assays could aid in AD drug discovery.
Novel biomarker technology for cancer diagnostics
A new way of identifying cancer biomarkers has been developed by researchers at Lund University in Sweden. The new technology allows very sensitive, quick and cost-effective identification of cancer biomarkers. Nikki Withers spoke to Professor Carl Borrebaeck, who discusses how the researchers demonstrated the power of combining proteomics with genomics.
NGS: offering a glimmer of hope in the fight against COVID-19
Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has become the method of choice for many researchers responding to infectious disease outbreaks and in the present coronavirus pandemic. Here, Pushpanathan Muthuirulan discusses the potential of NGS for rapid diagnosis and explores some of the emerging high-throughput approaches using NGS as a readout for the detection…
Powering forward – Genomics England’s COVID-19 response
Genomics England has launched a next-generation genomic research platform that will play a key role in the response to COVID-19. It is hoped this research environment will transform how genomic data is made usable for global biopharma and academic scientists, providing world‑class patient data security, while enabling the flexibility required…
