Drug discovery and molecular mechanisms of drug action
A friend with kids who just went back to school asked me about using various zinc products to reduce the length of or prevent the common cold. Years ago, I tried the nasal swab version of one of these products (Zicam) and was amazed at how painful they were. This prompted me to research the … Read more
Amyloid-beta (Aβ) is a collection of peptide fragments derived from cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP). Some of these fragments are toxic to neurons and aggregate forming oligomers and fibrils. These clusters of Aβ form plaques that accumulate in the brains of people with dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease (Figure 1). Preventing the accumulation of … Read more
Spasers are energy-absorbing particles that release light. Spaser stands for “surface plasmon amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.” These tiny particles are a type of plasmonic nanoparticle. Lasers activate spasers, which can be targeted to cancer cells. Once internalized by cancer cells, spasers can selectively kill them. Galanzha and colleagues generated and tested spasers of … Read more
Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is the enzyme (Figure 1) that degrades the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is released at neuronal synapses in the brain, at parasympathetic nerve synapses in the periphery, and at neuromuscular junctions. Acetylcholine activates two classes of receptors, the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, which is an ion channel, and the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor, which is a … Read more
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are becoming a major threat to human health (Figure 1). After a recent scare with a relative who contracted pneumonia while in the hospital, I began to think about antibiotic resistance and how bacteria become resistant even to those antibiotics that are rarely used, such as the carbapenem antibiotics. Bacteria can be infected … Read more