Publications

We used a novel high-throughput drug screening assay, based on Luminex technology, to identify anti-myeloma agents capable of inhibiting cytokines and growth factors essential for multiple myeloma (MM) from a chemical library of 1120 compounds provided by MMRF. Tetracycline derivatives inhibited MM cell proliferation and osteoclast activating factors without obvious effect on cell viability. Steroid […]

Known agonists of the orphan receptor GPR35 are kynurenic acid, zaprinast, 5-nitro-2-(3-phenylproplyamino) benzoic acid, and lysophosphatidic acids. Their relatively low affinities for GPR35 and prominent off-target effects at other pathways, however, diminish their utility for understanding GPR35 signaling and for identifying potential therapeutic uses of GPR35. In a screen of the Prestwick Library of drugs […]

Understanding the complex mechanisms that govern the fate decisions of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) is fundamental to their use in cell replacement therapies. The progress of dissecting these mechanisms will be facilitated by the availability of robust high-throughput screening assays on hESCs. In this study, we report an image-based high-content assay for detecting compounds […]

Huntington’s disease (HD) is associated with increased expression levels and activity of tissue transglutaminase (TG2), an enzyme primarily known for its cross-linking of proteins. To validate TG2 as a therapeutic target for HD in transgenic models and for eventual clinical development, a selective and brain-permeable inhibitor is required. Here, a comprehensive profiling platform of biochemical […]

Calcineurin is a Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent serine/threonine protein phosphatase involved in many biological processes and developmental programs, including immune response. One of the most studied substrates of calcineurin is the transcription factor NFAT (nuclear factor of activated T cells) responsible for T-cell activation. Different anticalcineurin drugs, such as cyclosporine A and FK506, are the most commonly used […]

Malaria is responsible for 3 million deaths annually. Antimalarial drug resistance is widespread, and few novel, well-defined targets exist. A robotic high throughput screen (HTS) was performed using 4000 small molecules from a natural compound (Spectrum), pharmacologically active (Lopac), and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drug library (Prestwick) for competitive inhibition of the ATP-binding […]

In Gram-negative bacteria, production of bis-(3′,5′)-cyclic diguanylic acid (c-di-GMP) by diguanylate cyclases (DGCs) is the main trigger for production of extracellular polysaccharides and for biofilm formation. Mutants affected in c-di-GMP biosynthesis are impaired in biofilm formation, thus making DGCs interesting targets for new antimicrobial agents with anti-biofilm activity. In this report, we describe a strategy […]

Drug discovery is complex and risky, and the chances of success are low. One starting point to discover a new drug is the selective screening of a collection of high value and good quality compounds. Selection of compounds for screening is one of the challenging initial steps in the drug discovery process and is crucial […]

There is an urgent need for the discovery and development of new antitubercular agents that target new biochemical pathways and treat drug resistant forms of the disease. One approach to addressing this need is through high-throughput screening of medicinally relevant libraries against the whole bacterium in order to discover a variety of new, active scaffolds […]

Calcineurin phosphatase plays a crucial role in T cell activation. Dephosphorylation of the nuclear factors of activated T cells (NFATs) by calcineurin is essential for activating cytokine gene expression and, consequently, the immune response. Current immunosuppressive protocols are based mainly on calcineurin inhibitors, cyclosporine A and FK506. Unfortunately, these drugs are associated with severe side […]