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Photo: Jeremy Thomas / StockSnap (CC0) / own upload
Boston Children's Hospital reported on 6 October on a study in Cell Reports Medicine showing that the sodium channel NaV1.8 in pain-sensing neurons relies on the scaffolding protein ankyrin-G (Ank3) to sustain the heightened activity seen in pathological pain. A short lipidated peptide (SLiP) that disrupts this interaction lowered NaV1.8 levels in the cell membrane and reduced pain-like behaviours in mouse models, while acute protective pain was spared. The work is preclinical, and the intellectual property has been licensed to a Boston biotechnology company.
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Photo: Altered Reality / StockSnap (CC0) / own upload
IOCB Prague reported on 5 October on a paper in Angewandte Chemie describing a catalytic intramolecular SNAr macrocyclization in which a fluoride catalyst works with an organosilane to form sterically hindered carbonβnitrogen bonds. The method closed linear precursors directly into strained medium-sized rings and macrocycles, and with tryptophan-containing peptides it gave structurally diverse 'atropopeptides' inspired by natural RiPPs. The institute says the new cyclic peptides will next go into bioactivity screening.
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Photo: Willian Was / StockSnap (CC0) / own upload
BioSpectrum Asia reported on 6 October that SK pharmteco, a subsidiary of South Korea's SK Inc., plans a five-year investment of more than $200 million in its US development and manufacturing infrastructure for small molecules and peptides. The plan includes new development laboratories, new GMP kilo-scale peptide capacity scheduled to be operational in late 2026 alongside advanced liquid chromatography, new manufacturing suites and about 100 long-term US jobs.
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Photo: Tommy Lisbin / StockSnap (CC0) / own upload
WJBF reported, in a story updated on 5 October, that CordenPharma is expanding its Aiken County, South Carolina site, previously operated by AmbioPharm, to add peptide synthesis to the purification and quality-control work already done there, so customers can go from synthesis through purification at one location. The company expects more than 200 new jobs, a larger hiring push from the third quarter of 2027, and the expansion to be operational in 2027.
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Computer search for tetrapeptide catalysts gets under way in Texas
Photo: Vidsplay / StockSnap (CC0) / own upload
Southwest Research Institute said on 6 October that it will work with The University of Texas at San Antonio to identify tetrapeptide catalysts using SwRI's Rhodium molecular docking platform, the first time the platform will be used to find catalysts rather than drug candidates. SwRI will supply computational data and a list of candidate peptide catalysts, which UT San Antonio researchers will then test and validate in their laboratories. The aim is more efficient synthesis of organic molecules; the project itself will not advance any medicine.
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Engineered bacterial nanomachine carries antimicrobial peptides into infected immune cells
Photo: Bango Renders / StockSnap (CC0) / own upload
BioCentury reported on 6 October on a study from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College in which researchers engineered a bacterial contractile nanomachine (an eCIS derived from the Photorhabdus virulence cassette) to carry mycobacteriophage-derived antimicrobial peptides and bind the CD11b receptor on alveolar macrophages. The system inhibited intracellular mycobacteria in lab tests, including drug-sensitive and isoniazid-resistant M. tuberculosis, and lowered lung bacterial burden by more than tenfold in infected mice.
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