Compound IPR19, a drug to stop the progression and reverse the cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia.
A study at IRB Barcelona has identified the cells responsible for initiating and promoting metastasis in several types of human tumours.
Their results show that the protein CD36, which absorbs fat from the cell membrane, is an essential factor that determines whether tumour cells become metastatic.
In the absence of CD36, the human tumours analysed did not develop metastasis. In addition, the inhibition of this protein also dramatically reduced the size of existing metastases.
Mice given a high-fat diet developed the most aggressive metastases. The study reports that the metastatic process is enhanced by fat intake.
IRB Barcelona will co-develop antibodies against CD36 with the potential to treat patients.
A study at IRB Barcelona sheds light on the dynamics of protein aggregates that behave like “droplets of oil in water” and that are described as membraneless cytoplasmic organelles.
These organelles regulate protein activity during cell division.
This is the first study at the Institute to address the so-called liquid-like droplets, which are attracting the attention of researchers worldwide.
Researchers working with flies at IRB Barcelona describe that the concentration of some small intracellular organelles determines the branching capacity of tracheal cells.
Tracheal cells are analogous to the cells that form blood vessels in the human body. The inhibition or stimulation of new blood vessels has implications in cancer and in tissue regeneration.
Changes in the regulation of two genes explain how the Drosophila respiratory system evolved from a primitive to a more developed state
Published in Development
Researchers at IRB Barcelona describe for the first time how to prepare a specific type of aggregate of the amyloid-beta protein with the ability to perforate the cell membrane.
What causes neuron death and the subsequent cognitive decline in Alzheimer´s disease is still unknown.
The journal Science publishes a commentary article on the Pauson-Khand reaction made by an expert at IRB Barcelona
Scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm develop a new method that predicts the way in which proteins move to exert their biological functions.
They have demonstrated that protein movement is governed by the general shape of these molecules, thereby providing new data on how proteins work—a key step for drug development.
IRB Barcelona researchers publish a review article on the emerging field of drug transporters that have the capacity to reach the brain more efficiently.
IRB Barcelona is one of the few centres worldwide with a specific line of research devoted to this field, which brings together chemistry, pharmacy and biomedicine.
The article appears on the cover of the journal Chemical Society Reviews.
The finding paves the way for the identification of new therapeutic targets for many diseases.
