Recent developments at Burnham Institute( Big Bucks for Bad Bugs A team o...),Health

A team of Burnham investigators has been awarded a $4 million grant from the NIH to generate chemical inhibitors of human proteins that are hijacked by bacteria and viruses during infection. These protein inhibitors may provide a new strategy for treating infectious diseases. Because these drugs will inhibit human proteins rather than bacterial or viral targets, the hope is that resistant forms will not emerge due to mutations in the genomes of the pathogens.

Dr. Stuart Lipton and colleagues have demonstrated that the neurodegeneration associated with Parkinson's disease might be a result of bad chemistry. Peroxiredoxin, a protein that protects cells from free-radical damage in the brain and elsewhere in the body, can be poisoned by nitric oxide via a chemical reaction called S-nitrosylation. This chemical reaction was found to occur in the brains of patients with Parkinson's disease and contributes to neuron injury and death. This mechanism of nerve cell injury suggests novel approaches for treatment.

The cell-signaling protein JNK, which is involved in inflammation, may also play a role in the growth of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Dr. Ze'ev Ronai's team has found that chemicals that inhibit JNK may be useful in treating melanoma. JNK inhibitors have been developed by several pharmaceutical companies as potential anti-inflammatory drugs. Dr. Ronai's study suggests these same drugs should be tested against melanoma.

Dr. Hudson Freeze, a former slime-mold biologist, has found his sweet spot. His lab is studying rare, yet debilitating, diseases called Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation (CDG). These diseases are caused by a defect in a cell's ability to produce the sugars that promote cells binding together. Mutations in the proteins t
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