Megan Cully

Inspired by natural molecular glues, drug hunters are chasing protein–protein interactions with next-gen small molecules tuned for enhanced tissue specificity and reduced toxicity.

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT 02 February 2022 Treatment of asthma has improved in recent years, but few therapies are available to treat acute exacerbations, which lead to disease worsening. Many exacerbations are associated with bacterial infections and known allergens. According to a new paper in Science Translational Medicine, infections and allergens induce the production of oncostatin M (OSM), which causes inflammation and mucus secretion.

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT 11 January 2022 Many bacteria have developed resistance to antibiotics, which threatens to sideline these compounds. Writing in Nature, Wang and colleagues describe a novel antibiotic, macolacin, that they identified using computational methods. A biphenylated version of macolacin reduced bacterial burden in mice infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, namely those bearing the colistin-resistance gene mcr-1.