DRUG DISCOVERY

Feb 27 2025SCIENCE

Molecular Detectives: AI's Role in Unlocking Drug Secrets

Picture this: scientists are on a hunt for new drugs, but the targets are always changing. They need to figure out how molecules will act in the body, like if they're harmful or can cross the blood-brain barrier. This is where AI steps in, speeding up and improving the process. AI, especially deep learning, has become a big help in drug discovery. It helps s...

reading time about 1 minute
Feb 20 2025SCIENCE

A New Hope in Drug Discovery: Niclosamide's Surprising Role

In the world of science, finding new ways to control how proteins interact can be a game-changer. Proteins are like tiny workers in our cells, and they often need to team up to get things done. These team-ups, or protein-protein interactions (PPIs), are super important for many things happening inside our bodies. Scientists are always on the hunt for new drugs that c...

reading time about 1 minute
Feb 16 2025HEALTH

China's Pharma Shift: From Copycats to Innovators

China's drug scene has seen a huge change in the past 30 years. It used to be all about copying existing medicines, but now it's moving towards creating new ones. This shift is a big deal, but it's not all smooth sailing. One major hurdle is the lack of enough money for local research. Another issue is the weak bond between universities and drug companies. Plus, gett...

reading time about 1 minute
Feb 07 2025SCIENCE

Curcumin's Fight Against Cancer: A Molecular Tale

Did you know that there's a compound called curcumin that could help in the fight against cancer? Curcumin is found in turmeric, a spice commonly used in cooking. Scientists are studying how it can be used to target a specific enzyme called Casein Kinase 2 (CK2), which plays a big role in how cells work and multiply. CK2 is super important in the body. It's involved...

reading time about 1 minute
Feb 03 2025BUSINESS

From Drugs to Solar Power: The Quantum Leap of Xtalpi

Xtalpi, a Hong Kong-listed company, is making waves in the tech world. It started with a bang in 2016. Wen Shuhao, the company's cofounder and chairman, and his team participated in a blind test. The challenge was to predict the 3D structure of molecules. These molecules show how effective a drug can be. Wen's team used AI and quantum physics-based calculations. The ...

reading time about 4 minutes
Jan 29 2025SCIENCE

How Drugs Change Cancer Cell Metabolism

Drugs don't always stop cancer cells from growing, but they often mess with their metabolism. Scientists used a high-tech method, called metabolomics, to see how 1, 520 drugs affected 2, 269 potential metabolites in A549 lung cancer cells. Even though only 26% of the drugs slowed down cell growth, a whopping 86% caused changes inside the cells. These changes were sim...

reading time less than a minute
Jan 25 2025HEALTH

Can Old Drugs Fight COVID-19?

Imagine a virus that's causing chaos all around the world. Sounds scary, right? Well, scientists are on a mission to stop this virus, called SARS-CoV-2, from doing more harm. They've discovered that a key part of the virus, called RNA-dependent RNA Polymerase (RdRp), is vital for its growth. So, maybe if we could stop this part, we could stop the virus too. Scientis...

reading time less than a minute
Jan 22 2025HEALTH

Discovering New Ways to Fight Biliary Tract Cancer

Ever wondered why finding new medicines for biliary tract cancer is so hard? It's not just one disease, but a group of different tumors affecting the inside and outside of the liver's bile ducts, and even the gallbladder. Each type has its own genetic make-up, making it a real puzzle for scientists. Despite knowing more about the genes gone wrong, patients still face...

reading time about 1 minute
Jan 22 2025SCIENCE

Fast and Eco-Friendly: Triazoles Made Easy with Ionic Liquids

Triazoles are vital in creating medicines and pesticides. A clever team found a new way to make these molecules using something called ionic liquids. They started with ingredients like benzonitrile derivatives and primary amines, heating them up to create triazoles quickly. What's neat is they could use regular heat or microwaves, and both methods worked brilliantly....

reading time about 1 minute
Jan 16 2025SCIENCE

Exploring a New Tool for Drug Discovery: The Power of Immobilized Human Serum Albumin

Imagine you're trying to find out how well a new medicine sticks to something in your body, like a sponge. Scientists often use human serum albumin (HSA) for this. Think of HSA as the sponge that helps carry drugs around your body. Recently, scientists created a new tool using HSA stuck to tiny magnetic balls, called magnetic nanoparticles. This tool is designed to m...

reading time about 1 minute