BioWorld Science - Articles

Illustration of scientists conducting research on a mouse to find the missing puzzle piece

Neurology/Psychiatric

New murine models to study Clec7a in neurodegeneration

March 26, 2024

Microglia is known to play a crucial role in brain homeostasis, but this is lost during neurodegeneration.

Neurology/Psychiatric

Pannex Therapeutics presents new PANX1 inhibitors

March 25, 2024

Pannex Therapeutics Inc. has divulged pannexin-1 (PANX1; MRS1) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of neuropathic pain and opioid dependency.

Neurology/Psychiatric

Brise Pharmaceutical describes new CGRP receptor antagonists

March 25, 2024

Brise Pharmaceutical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. has identified calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonists reported to be useful for treatment of cerebrovascular and vascular disorders.

Neurology/Psychiatric

Nurexone’s Exopten to be studied in rodent models of spinal cord injury

March 25, 2024

Nurexone Biologic Inc. has signed a strategic service agreement with Vivox Ltd. for large-scale animal testing of Exopten therapy for spinal cord injury (SCI).

Illustration of motor neuron connecting to muscle fiber

Neurology/Psychiatric

Preclinical characterization of Myo-2, a muscle-penetrating mitochondriotropic agent for the treatment of DMD

March 25, 2024

To address the need for novel therapeutic candidates against Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), investigators at Mitorx Therapeutics Ltd. developed a library of novel small-molecule mitochondriotropic agents.

Neurology/Psychiatric

VLP vaccine may be an option for treating Alzheimer’s disease

March 25, 2024

Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is used as a marker of activated microglia, and thus a protein that drives inflammation. Patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have shown increased levels of Gal-3 in their cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) compared to healthy controls, as well as increased expression in their brain tissue.

Neurology/Psychiatric

Tridem’s vaccines targeting α-synuclein may be used for treating Parkinson’s disease

March 25, 2024

Vaccines that target α-synuclein have a lot of potential for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and other synucleinopathies. Tridem Bioscience GmbH & Co. KG has developed the proprietary WISIT vaccine technology.

Elderly woman holding illustration of brain with missing puzzle piece

Neurology/Psychiatric

BT-0267, a highly selective and orally bioavailable LRRK2 inhibitor for PD

March 25, 2024

Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2), a key drug target, plays a major role in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Mutations in LRRK2, specifically LRRK2 G2019S which increases LRRK2 kinase activity, have been observed in a majority of PD patients.

Drug Design, Drug Delivery & Technologies

Ono and University of Oxford enter drug discovery collaboration

March 25, 2024

Ono Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has entered into a drug discovery collaboration agreement with the University of Oxford to verify drug discovery seeds and obtain screening compounds for the creation of new medicines.

Biomarkers

Study unveils PCDHA9 as a marker of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

March 25, 2024

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease for which there is a 10% rate of familial cases, with the rest being sporadic cases. Both genetic and environmental factors contribute to the etiology of ALS, and more than 120 genes have been reported to be tied to the disease, but few with strong association. Thus, identifying additional genes contributing to ALS will help shed light on the disease and its related therapies.