Month: April 2019

Manuela Urbischek, Helena Rannikmae, Thomas Foets, Katharina Ravn, Marko Hyvönen & Marc de la Roche

Scientific Reports 6193 (2019)
DOI: 0.1038/s41598-019-42604-0
Pubmed: 30996238

Abstract

The media formulations necessary for deriving and sustaining organoids from epithelial tissues such as prostate, colon, gastric, liver, pancreas, and others have been established. Critical components of organoid media are a set of growth factors that include R-spondins and BMP signalling antagonists such as Noggin or Gremlin 1. Currently, the practical limitations for formulating organoid media of reproducible potency and larger-scale media production that have hampered further technological applications of organoid technology include: the cost of growth factors such as R-spondins and Gremlin 1/Noggin and their production as defined specific activities free of contaminants that may affect organoid growth. Continue reading →

Jessica Iegre, Paul Brear, David J. Baker, Yaw Sing Tan, Eleanor L. Atkinson, Hannah F. Sore, Daniel H. O’ Donovan, Chandra S. Verma, Marko Hyvönen and David R. Spring

Chem. Sci., advance publication (2019)

DOI: 10.1039/C9SC00798A
Pubmed: TBC

PDB coordinates:

6Q38 (3D view)
6Q4Q (3D view)

Abstract

The discovery of new Protein–Protein Interaction (PPI) modulators is currently limited by the difficulties associated with the design and synthesis of selective small molecule inhibitors. Peptides are a potential solution for disrupting PPIs; however, they typically suffer from poor stability in vivo and limited tissue penetration hampering their wide spread use as new chemical biology tools and potential therapeutics. In this work, a combination of CuAAC chemistry, molecular modelling, X-ray crystallography, and biological validation allowed us to develop highly functionalised peptide PPI inhibitors of the protein CK2. Continue reading →