New Technique Reduces Side-Effects, Improves Delivery of Chemotherapy Nanodrugs
Carnegie Mellon University researchers have developed a new method for delivering chemotherapy nanodrugs that increases the drugs’ bioavailability and reduces side-effects. Their study, published online in Scientific Reports, shows that administering an FDA-approved nutrition source prior to chemotherapy can reduce the amount of the toxic drugs that settle in the spleen, liver and kidneys. Nanodrugs, drugs…
Figuring Out The 3-D Shape of Molecules With a Push of a Button
An international team of researchers led by Carnegie Mellon University chemist Roberto R. Gil and Universidade Federal de Pernambuco chemist Armando Navarro-Vázquez has developed a program that automates the process of figuring out a molecule’s three-dimensional structure. The technique, described in a paper in Angewandte Chemie, compresses a process that usually takes days into minutes and…
Study Shows How Epilepsy Drugs Block Brain’s Electrical Signals
As many as one out of four adults who suffer from epilepsy do not respond to any available drugs. That makes the search for effective new anti-seizure medications vital, and Carnegie Mellon University chemist Maria Kurnikova is playing a key role in that quest. Kurnikova, an associate professor of chemistry, is part of a team that published…
Discovery Could Help Treatments for Sickle Cell Disease
An interdisciplinary, international group of researchers has found new biophysical markers that could help improve the understanding of treatments for sickle cell disease, a step toward developing better methods for treating the inherited blood disorder that affects an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 Americans each year. “There is a critical need for patient-specific biomarkers that can…