The research conducted at CDD includes design, discovery and development of therapeutics for various conditions affecting human health. These diverse conditions include cancer, neurological disorders, viral diseases etc. Along with a proven track record of success in developing compounds of medicinal interest (carbovir and abacavir), CDD has added more drug candidates to its growing repertoire.
Cyanide is a rapid acting toxin that inhibits cellular respiration, rapidly shutting down many of the fundamental biochemical processes the body needs to survive by preventing the body from using oxygen. Symptoms of acute cyanide poisoning include headache, vertigo, lack of motor coordination, weak pulse, abnormal heartbeat, vomiting, stupor, convulsions, coma, and even death. When released in an enclosed area, cyanide can be particularly deadly and impact a victim very quickly.
Amyloidopathic disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease present symptomology years following the entrenchment of amyloidogenic imbalance. Symptomology often presents only after significant neurodegeneration. There exists thus a warrant for early detection of amyloidopathy in Alzheimer’s disease. Non-existent modalities for direct identification and quantitation of soluble amyloid aggregates or (proto)fibrils forced us to undertake the development of a spectrophotometric technique to support ongoing drug design.
The research conducted at CDD includes design, discovery and development of therapeutics for various conditions affecting human health. These diverse conditions include cancer, neurological disorders, viral diseases etc. Along with a proven track record of success in developing compounds of medicinal interest (carbovir and abacavir), CDD has added more drug candidates to its growing repertoire.
Swati More, PhD, and Robert Vince, PhD, Professor and Director of the Center for Drug Design, discovered a potential new drug that works as an antidote to acetaminophen poisoning. It’s named ψ-Glutathione (Pseudo-Glutathione), similar to the naturally-occurring compound glutathione. A report of the compound’s efficacy was recently published in Chemical Research in Toxicology.
Researchers at the Center for Drug Design, Profs. Robert Vince, Swati More and Dr. James Beach, have devised a new concept that may allow detection of Alzheimer's disease at an early stage — early enough to give drugs a chance to work! For the first time, changes associated with early stages of the diseases were detected in live mice through color-shifts in the light reflected by the retina.
Researchers from the University of Minnesota Center for Drug Design are getting closer to finding a solution to the problem of White Nose Syndrome affecting bat populations throughout the country. For the past six years, Christine Salomon, PhD, and her colleagues have been researching microorganisms living deep in the Soudan Mine in northeast Minnesota.
