p53 regulates apoptosis and the cell cycle through actions in the nucleus and cytoplasm. Altering the subcellular localization of p53 can alter its biological function. Therefore, small molecules that change the localization of p53 would be useful chemical probes to understand the influence of subcellular localization on the function of p53. To identify such molecules, […]

Finding specific small-molecule inhibitors of protein-protein interactions remains a significant challenge. Recently, attention has grown toward « hot spot » interactions where binding is dominated by a limited number of amino acid contacts, theoretically offering an increased opportunity for disruption by small molecules. Inhibitors of the interaction between BRCT (the C-terminal portion of BRCA1, a key tumor […]

Epigenetic regulation of gene expression is essential in embryonic development and contributes to cancer pathology. We used a cell-based imaging assay that measures derepression of a silenced green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter to identify novel classes of compounds involved in epigenetic regulation. This locus derepression (LDR) assay was screened against a 69,137-member chemical library using […]

High-throughput screening (HTS) of chemical libraries has become a critical tool in basic biology and drug discovery. However, its implementation and the adaptation of high-content assays to human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) have been hampered by multiple technical challenges. Here we present a strategy to adapt hESCs to HTS conditions, resulting in an assay suitable […]

Escherichia coli YjeE is a broadly conserved bacterial ATPase of unknown function that has been widely characterized as essential. Here, the transcriptional regulation of the promoter of yjeE (P yjeE) was probed using a luciferase reporter and 172 antibiotics of diverse mechanisms. Norfloxacin and other fluorquinolones were found to be the most potent activator of […]