Biochemistry

An international team of researchers led by the Universities of Liverpool and Keele, working with Public Health England, has found that the common anticoagulant drug heparin inhibits the SARS-Cov2 virus spike protein, by reducing the virus’ ability to attach to human cells and infect them. The research, published in the journals British Journal of Pharmacology, […]

By Dr Ross Macdonald Cell-based therapies are being widely recognised for their potential to treat a variety of medical conditions, but they face major obstacles toward commercialisation. Traditionally, they have been difficult and expensive to make in large quantities. Biopharmaceutical companies must develop manufacturing solutions that will enable them to efficiently and reproducibly create the […]

Stem Cell Differentiation By Dr Lilian Hook Stem cells are extraordinary cells, capable of both self-renewal and differentiation to mature somatic cells in vivo and in vitro (1,2). They have many features and advantages which could revolutionise drug development and healthcare applications. Stem cells offer a limitless, consistent supply of physiologically relevant cells from validated […]

Enterprise Therapeutics publishes paper on novel therapeutic approach for treatment of all cystic fibrosis patients. Enterprise Therapeutics Ltd (Enterprise), a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel therapies to improve the lives of patients suffering with respiratory disease, today announced the publication of its first peer-reviewed paper. The open access paper, published […]

Scientists in academic centres and companies around the world desperately search for novel therapeutics and vaccines to treat and prevent COVID-19. However, with lockdowns and limited access to laboratories, researchers are being forced to work from home, putting research continuity at risk. To help scientists continue their R&D, and ensure research continuity, Arctoris has established […]

13 July 2020 Image: National Cancer Institute Scientists have revealed details of the discovery of a new cancer drug that could be used to treat a range of cancer types, including some blood cancers and solid tumours. The drug, fadraciclib, was jointly discovered by scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, in collaboration with […]

Aigenpulse has released an intelligence platform designed to speed up the drug discovery and development process. The Aigenpulse platform harnesses the latest artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools to deliver advanced analytics to underpin scientific decision making. Aigenpulse has built the data-agnostic platform for importing, integrating, processing, linking, visualising, exploring and analysing biological data across multiple […]

Optibrium and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM), are celebrating five years of an education support collaboration. As part of this specialist science and technology summer school initiative, Optibrium provides free access to StarDrop, Optibrium’s software for small molecule design, optimisation and data analysis. This encourages high school students to take their […]

2 July 2020 From the race to the COVID-19 cure to the new manufacturing technologies that could be a game changer for stem cell therapies. The summer issue of DDW is now available here. With COVID-19 still a significant feature in the drug discovery landscape, this issue looks at the race to finding a cure – […]

Scientists from AI precision medicine company, PrecisionLife, have found 68 genes associated with risk of developing severe COVID-19 by using its proprietary AI-enabled precision medicine platform to analyse the genomes of 929 patients from the UK Biobank who had a severe response to SARS-CoV-2. Prior to an effective and widely available vaccine, PrecisionLife’s insights may […]