Pharmacology News and Research

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Pharmacology is the study of how chemical substances interact with living systems. If substances have medicinal properties, they are considered pharmaceuticals. The field encompasses drug composition and properties, interactions, toxicology, therapy, and medical applications and antipathogenic capabilities.

Study Identifies Adipogenin as Crucial Driver of Lipid Droplet Formation

A microprotein called adipogenin appears to play a key role in helping fat cells store lipid droplets – a phenomenon that's pivotal for metabolic health, a study co-led by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers shows.

27 Nov 2025

Kinase Inhibitors Found to Trigger Widespread Target Protein Degradation

Protein kinases are the molecular switches of the cell. They control growth, division, communication, and survival by attaching phosphate groups to other proteins.

27 Nov 2025

Sabotaging T Cell Exhaustion for Cancer Therapy

Like all hardworking things, the cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) of the immune system charged with detecting and destroying cancer cells tend to get very tired-so much so, in fact, that they can even die from exhaustion.

18 Nov 2025

Blocking a Hidden Tumor Pathway Revives the Immune System

A new study has discovered a molecular signal that tumors exploit to exhaust the T cells meant to destroy them-and how silencing that signal could revive the body's immunity.

18 Nov 2025

Hidden Role of Biliverdin Reductase A in Fighting Oxidative Damage

According to a new study from Johns Hopkins Medicine, the enzyme biliverdin reductase A (BVRA) protects neurons directly from oxidative stress, regardless of whether it produces the yellow pigment bilirubin.

5 Nov 2025

Enzyme BVRA Found to Shield Neurons from Oxidative Stress

New research from Johns Hopkins Medicine shows that the enzyme biliverdin reductase A (BVRA) plays a direct protective role against oxidative stress in neurons, independent of its role producing the yellow pigment bilirubin.

4 Nov 2025

Weill Cornell Scientists Develop Safe and Precise Tool to Control Gene Activity

Investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine have developed a versatile and non-toxic technology for controlling the activity of any gene in a cell. Such "gene-switch" tools allow scientists to "turn on" or "turn off" a target gene to study how it works, model diseases and design new therapies.

4 Nov 2025

Scientists Reveal How Nanovaccines Boost the Immune Fight Against Aggressive Breast Cancers

Nanovaccines show promise in breast cancer therapy, enhancing immune activation and targeting cold tumors, particularly in challenging triple-negative cases.

24 Oct 2025

Innovative Fluorescent Technique Sheds Light on Cellular Lipid Transport

Lipids are fatty molecules that play critical roles in cell function, including membrane structure, energy storage and nutrient absorption.

17 Oct 2025

Task-Specific Machine Learning Architecture Enhances Drug Discovery Accuracy

The drug development pipeline is a costly and lengthy process. Identifying high-quality "hit" compounds-those with high potency, selectivity, and favorable metabolic properties-at the earliest stages is important for reducing cost and accelerating the path to clinical trials.

17 Oct 2025

Comprehensive Proteomic Analysis with COOKIE-Pro Reveals Drug Affinity and Reactivity

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have developed a powerful new data analysis method named COOKIE-Pro (Covalent Occupancy Kinetic Enrichment via Proteomics) that provides a comprehensive, unbiased view of how a class of drugs, called covalent inhibitors, interacts with proteins throughout the cell.

30 Sep 2025

Actin Scaffold Protects Cancer Cell Nuclei Under Mechanical Stress

Researchers from the Cluster of Excellence CIBSS have demonstrated that an actin scaffold stabilizes the cell nucleus upon mechanical stress.

30 Sep 2025

RyR1-Mediated CICR Plays Minimal Role in Normal Skeletal Muscle Contraction

Researchers engineered mice with a mutation (E3896A) in the RyR1 calcium-binding site, eliminating calcium-induced calcium release (CICR) without affecting depolarization-induced calcium release.

26 Sep 2025

Targeting Two Key Proteins to Weaken Pancreatic Cancer's Defenses

Indiana University School of Medicine scientists have identified a new way to weaken pancreatic cancer's defenses by targeting two key proteins that help the deadly disease resist treatment.

22 Sep 2025

Breakthrough Technique Enables Large-Scale Study of Polar and Ionic Metabolites

Researchers from the McCullagh Group in Oxford University's Department of Chemistry have published an innovative method in Nature Protocols today (22 August) that provides comprehensive analysis of metabolites found in cells, tissues and biofluids.

22 Aug 2025

Thalamus Found to Modulate Cortical Sensitivity to Touch

The cerebral cortex processes sensory information via a complex network of neural connections. How are these signals modulated to refine perception? A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has identified a mechanism by which certain thalamic projections target neurons and modify their excitability.

31 Jul 2025

New Insights into How Cilia Move and Power Cellular Motion

A team led by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers has uncovered the atomic structure of a protein complex pivotal to the function of motile cilia, the hair-like structures extending from the surfaces of many cell types that generate their movement.

23 Jul 2025