News archive for The Department of Biomedicine

The human genome was sequenced many years ago and our ~20.000 genes are mostly defined. However, a large portion of our proteins, the products encoded by the genes and involved in all biological processes, remain functionally unexplored. University of Bergen researchers recently solved the structure and function of another uncharacterized human protein that turns out be linked to kidney disease.

Congratulations to Haya and Tyra!

This is the newest part of our journey to design FabF inhibitors with the goal to develop new antibiotics. Here, we have used X-ray crystallography to discover hit compounds which subsequently were optimized using analogue searching, chemical space searching and manual design.

Visit the exhibition "Illuminating life" and admire Shuntaro Yamada's pictures of cells and tissue.

Professor Hrvoje Miletic and his team at UiB have made groundbreaking discoveries that could provide new answers to what makes malignant brain tumors grow. The goal is to improve both survival and treatment of brain cancer.

CNPase is an enzyme present at high levels in myelinating cells. Novel nanobody tools developed in an international collaboration were used to identify binding epitopes at atomic resolution and visualise myelin. Additionally, the nanobodies were used as intrabodies to bind to CNPase in living cells. These nanotools will be valuable for future research on myelin and its molecules.

Aromatic amino acid hydroxylases (AAAHs) like PAH, TH, and TPH are essential for producing key neurotransmitters and require iron and tetrahydrobiopterin to function. This study screened 307 histone deacetylase inhibitors and found that compounds like panobinostat can inhibit AAAHs at low micromolar concentrations, suggesting new therapeutic applications for these inhibitors.

TargetRNA is an EU Horizon funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (MSCA) doctoral training network. In this network, 16 PhD students will be trained in RNA-ligand design in the context of antimicrobial drug discovery.