Molecular Biology news from FierceBioResearcher

In a remarkable breakthrough for weight research, scientists have reported the discovery of a neurochemical pathway that stimulates the accumulation of fat in animals laboring under chronically high stress and exposed to a diet of junk food. Inhibiting the pathway prevented weight gain in mice but selectively spurring the mechanism allowed for the strategic accumulation of weight--potentially opening a new pathway to mold larger breasts, firmer buttocks and younger faces.

Zofia …

A team of scientists say they have developed a drug that blocks the SIRT2 enzyme, which protects the neurons damaged by Parkinson's disease. In an article to come out this week in the journal Science, researchers at Harvard show how inhibition of SIRT2--a member of the sirtuin family, which is linked to aging--prevents the toxicity of the protein aggregates that are believed to be behind the neuronal death characteristic of PD. Contrary to "classic" approaches that try to …

Researchers from the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have reversed mild retardation and severe autism in mice by inhibiting the enzyme called p21-activated kinase (PAK). Their study focused on Fragile X Syndrome (FXS)--a leading cause of retardation and autism--which is linked to a mutated X chromosome gene. The PAK enzyme controls the connections between neurons and the brain.

"Strikingly, PAK inhibition also restored electrical …

Wyeth has devoted more than 350 scientists to 23 separate research projects aimed at treating Alzheimer's. So far, that commitment has cost the giant drug developer more than $450 million. But while it's one of the most ambitious research projects in the world related to Alzheimer's, The New York Times concludes that a broad array of pharma and biotech companies are also looking for new therapies to treat a disease that is expected to claim millions of more victims as the …

A worldwide analysis of biotech patents shows that universities and public research institutions play the leading role in drug discovery, with the U.S. and Japan well ahead of Europe in innovation. The intellectual property firm Marks & Clerk examined patents filed between 2002 and 2006 and found that the Japan Science and Technology Agency played the lead role in filing 1,022 patent "families;" clusters of patents all linked to a single discovery. The University of California ranked …

A new study in mice raises the possibility that humans may one day be able to eat any kind of fat they want without raising their risk of heart disease. The study involved deleting a gene in the mice that causes production of ACAT2, an enzyme that alters the molecular structure of cholesterol so that it can be transported to the body's cells.

"We deleted an enzyme in mice and they could eat any type of fat and not get heart disease," said Lawrence Rudel, Ph.D., a professor of …

Scientists have developed a novel strategy for tackling neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's disease: encouraging an individual's own cells to "eat" the malformed proteins that lead to the disease. Professor David Rubinsztein, Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Fellow at the University of Cambridge, has been studying the molecular biology underlying Huntington's and other neurodegenerative diseases. Huntington's occurs when a protein known as huntingtin builds up in the brain cells …

A researcher at Purdue University laboratory is working on a compound that he says could become the first treatment available for Alzheimer's. Arun Ghosh says the molecule targets an enzyme called memapsin 2, or beta-secretase, which plays a key role in the formation of beta amyloid plaque that is widely believed to be responsible for the disease. Ghosh used X-ray crystallography to map the structure of an inhibitor he designed that was bound to the enzyme. Ghosh formed a company with …

A research team at Scripps Research Institute has discovered a simpler, less expensive method for producing synthetic versions of naturally-occurring compounds. Scripps researcher Phil Baran and a couple of graduate students at Scripps Research Kellogg School of Science and Technology say they were able to eliminate a step in the process. By making it possible to produce these compounds less expensively, they say that a number of new drugs could be much more feasible to make. And that …

A class of widely used anesthetics spurs production of beta amyloid in the brains of mice, according to a study completed at the University of Pennsylvania. Researchers studied halothane, one in a class of volatile anesthetics used on 60 million people a year. A common side effect of these anesthetics is 'post-operative cognitive decline' that can last from days to years. If the drugs also promote beta amyloid in the brains of humans, it could provide a direct link to Alzheimer's. While …