A chance discovery has led to a new class of antibiotics with multiple arms that interacted with the cell wall of gram-positive bacteria, inhibiting their assembly and disarming them. “It was an accidental discovery. We were using it to stain cells. We also were running evaluations of antibiotics. One of my former students came to me and said: ‘I think we have discovered something that is quite potent as an antibiotic,’” the senior author Xingyu Jiang told BioWorld.
In brain research, be it basic or clinical, neurons have long hogged the limelight. But at the 2023 European Meeting on Glial Cells in Health and Disease, neurons take a back seat to glia – cell types that have often been described as support cells and treated as an afterthought, but that play critical roles in all aspects of brain function, including information processing.
Septerna Inc. has closed a US$150 million series B financing and will use the funds to continue development of its portfolio of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR)-targeted, oral small-molecule drug candidates, including advancement of its lead program targeting the parathyroid hormone 1 receptor (PTH1R) to clinical proof of mechanism.
Researchers from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and affiliated organizations have reported the development and preclinical evaluation of [18F]F-ZW-cinacalcet, a novel PET agent targeting the calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) for parathyroid imaging.
Novartis AG has described pyridine-3-carboxylate compounds acting as voltage-dependent L-type calcium channel subunit α-1C channel (Cav1.2) activators reported to be useful for the treatment of schizophrenia, major depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, multiple sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and Brugada syndrome.
National Institute of Pharmaceutical R&D Co. Ltd. has divulged heterocyclic compounds acting as RAC-α serine/threonine-protein kinase (AKT1; PKB α), AKT2 (PKB β) and AKT3 (PKB γ) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
Beigene Co. Ltd. has identified 3, 4-dihydroisoquinolin-1 (2h)-ones derivatives acting as stimulator of interferon genes protein (STING; TMEM173) antagonists reported to be useful for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
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