Teams are pursuing a dizzying array of therapeutic strategies to stymie COVID-19. It’s not yet clear which approach, or combination of approaches, will work best. *Editor’s Note: We’re providing a preview of this content due to the urgent and rapidly … Continue reading
Journal Club
Highlighting recent, timely papers selected by Academy member labs
Category Archives: Pharmacology
PREVIEW News Feature: To counter the pandemic, clinicians bank on repurposed drugs
Journal Club: Newly solved structure of a GABA receptor could offer drug design insights
Neurons message each other with the help of excitatory or inhibitory neurotransmitters. But to actually deliver those messages, the neurotransmitters must dock with protein receptors embedded in the cell membranes of adjacent neurons. Of particular interest in the human brain … Continue reading
Journal Club: New clues in the mystery of the mechanism of general anesthetics
Anesthetics have been used in surgery since the mid-1800s, but their exact mechanisms of action continue to be the subject of intense investigation. Past studies have suggested they block neurotransmitter receptors postsynaptically. Now a new study, published January 9 in … Continue reading
Journal Club: New tool predicts which compounds taste bitter
Humans have 25 different taste receptors that register a range of bitter chemical compounds in everything from coffee and beer to dark chocolate and medicine. And yet, while humans can easily recognize bitterness, predicting whether a chemical compound will taste … Continue reading
Journal Club: Layer-cake chemistry offers up a cheap way to perform chemical tests
Sana Jahanshahi-Anbuhi started her study with a trip to the supermarket to buy Listerine breath strips, the sort that melt on your tongue in seconds. But the chemical engineering postdoc at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada wasn’t worried about bad … Continue reading
Prions can develop drug resistant strains
Prions became infamous once scientists linked them with neurodegenerative disorders. Now scientists discover that prions can develop resistance to drugs, potentially complicating efforts to fight the diseases they cause, report findings detailed in the Proceedings of the National Academy of … Continue reading
Making vaccines not need refrigeration
Millions of deaths happen each year from vaccine-preventable diseases because vaccines break down from heat and developing countries often lack ways to properly refrigerate them. Now researchers suggest eggshell-like coatings can make vaccines more thermally stable. Vaccines against polio, smallpox, … Continue reading