Wednesday, October 4, 2023
SCIENMAG: Latest Science and Health News
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Scienmag - Latest science news from science magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home SCIENCE NEWS Chemistry AND Physics

A new accurate computational method designed to enhance drug target stability

March 29, 2019
in Chemistry AND Physics
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

IMAGE

Credit: Petr Popov et al./Current Opinion in Structural Biology

Scientists from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech), and the University of Southern California (USC) have developed a new computational method for the design of thermally stable G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) that are of great help in creating new drugs. The method has already proved useful in obtaining the structures of several principal human receptors. An overview of the new method was published in the prestigious science journal Current Opinion on Structural Biology.

Receptors are molecules that capture and transmit signals and play a key role in the human body regulation. GPCRs are among the best-known human protein families involved in vision, olfaction, immune response, and brain processes, making them an important drug target. For a receptor to serve as a target, the researchers need to understand its structure in great detail, just as a locksmith needs to know the lock’s inner structure to make a key that fits. Studying a receptor that becomes unstable when detached from the cell membrane is a much more challenging task, which is largely facilitated by the computational methods that help to accurately predict the receptor’s soft spots and the changes that will make it more stable.

“The structural studies of GPCRs are of high scientific and applied value, since these proteins are the target for 30 to 40 percent of drugs. Our method relies on several approaches, including machine learning, molecular modeling, and bioinformatics, that are tailored specifically to GPCRs. These approaches are complementary, which enables effectively predicting the smallest possible changes that can enhance the receptor’s stability and make it easier to obtain its molecular structure,” explains professor Petr Popov of MIPT’s Laboratory of Structural Biology of G Protein-Coupled Receptors and the Skoltech Center for Computational and Data-Intensive Science and Engineering.

The new method developed at MIPT, Skoltech, and USC allowed researchers to obtain the structures of four important human receptors, including the cannabinoid receptor involved in brain signal transmission and pain perception, and the prostaglandin receptor implicated in inflammatory processes in the human body. The results of the study were published in the top international science journals Cell and Nature Chemical Biology.

###

Media Contact
Varvara Bogomolova
bogomolova@phystech.edu

Original Source

https://mipt.ru/english/news/a_new_accurate_computational_method_designed_to_enhance_drug_target_stability

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sbi.2019.02.010

Tags: BiochemistryBiologyBiomedical/Environmental/Chemical EngineeringCell BiologyPain
Share25Tweet16Share4ShareSendShare
  • AI-designed robot

    Instant evolution: AI designs new robot from scratch in seconds

    68 shares
    Share 27 Tweet 17
  • Lasers deflected using air

    65 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16
  • New $81million NIH grant will help U.S. answer urgent need for better dementia care

    65 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16
  • African BioGenome Project (AfricaBP) Open Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics Workshop 2023

    93 shares
    Share 37 Tweet 23
  • Pumped for frigid weather: study pinpoints cold adaptations in nervous system of Antarctic octopus

    68 shares
    Share 27 Tweet 17
  • Men with metastatic prostate cancer live longer thanks to new drugs

    67 shares
    Share 27 Tweet 17
ADVERTISEMENT

About us

We bring you the latest science news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Latest NEWS

Null results research now published by major behavioral medicine journal

Groundbreaking mathematical proof: new insights into typhoon dynamics unveiled

Weather researchers explore deep convective clouds in coastal cities

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 208 other subscribers

© 2023 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US

© 2023 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In