Predicting protein folding has made strides in recent years, mainly through unconventional approaches. Computer games like foldit have been able to apply crowdsourcing to proteins, and solve structures that had evaded traditional computing power.
Researchers from the University of California at Berkeley have developed a method that allows them to better target gene therapy viral vectors via directed evolution. For now, they have used their method to make a vector that can more easily reach the back of the eye.
Researchers have gained new insights into the structure of an unusual type of antibody that is made mainly by cows. They hope those insights will ultimately allow them to make antibodies for indications where traditional antibodies have not been successful.
CHICAGO – At the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting last week, there were plenty of individual trial results vying for attention. But there were also presentations that focused on the science of the trials: how one might make those trials better at observing the true effects of drugs on tumors and, ultimately, on patients.
CHICAGO – From a scientific perspective, at least, the RTOG 0825 and AVAglio studies were a terrific success: they suggested plenty of avenues for future research.
CHICAGO – For those already cowed by the genetic diversity of cancer, Charles Swanton, of the Institute for Cancer Research/Royal Marsden Hospital, had some depressing news at the American Society for Clinical Oncology's (ASCO) annual meeting.
A peptide based on sea anemone venom, already in early clinical trials for autoimmune diseases, also shows promise in the metabolic arena, scientists reported this week.
Drugs continue to fail. Most candidates that enter into the development process do not come out the other end as approved therapies. But the reasons for those failures have shifted.
In 2012, researchers reported that in mice, treatment with Eisai Inc.'s lymphoma drug Targretin (bexarotene) could reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. In a study published in Science, the authors reported that treating mice with the drug improved memories as well as social behaviors, and decreased levels of soluble A-beta.
