DynaBiS: A hierarchical sampling algorithm to identify flexible binding sites for large ligands and peptides.

Knowing the ligand or peptide binding site in proteins is highly important to guide drug discovery, but experimental elucidation of the binding site is difficult. Therefore, various computational approaches have been developed to identify potential binding sites in protein structures. However, protein and ligand flexibility are often neglected in these methods due to efficiency considerations despite the recognition that protein-ligand interactions can be strongly affected by mutual structural adaptations.

HELM Software for Biopolymers.

Hierarchical Editing Language for Macromolecules (HELM version 2.0) is a molecular line notation similar to SMILEs but specifically for communicating and managing biopolymer structures. The HELM project, part of the Pistoia Alliance nonprofit organization, has been tasked to develop and promote HELM as a global exchange format and recently released version 2.

A small molecule inhibits protein disulfide isomerase and triggers the chemosensitization of cancer cells.

Resistance to chemotherapeutic agents represents a major challenge in cancer research. One approach to this problem is combination therapy, the application of a toxic chemotherapeutic drug together with a sensitizing compound that addresses the vulnerability of cancer cells to induce apoptosis. Here we report the discovery of a new compound class (T8) that sensitizes various cancer cells towards etoposide treatment at subtoxic concentrations.

Old and new inhibitors of quinone reductase 2.

Quinone reductase 2 is a cytosolic enzyme which catalyses the reduction of quinones, such as menadione and coenzymes Q. Despite a relatively close sequence-based resemblance to NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (QR1), it has many different features. QR2 is the third melatonin binding site (MT3).

Interactions of a fungistatic antibiotic, griseofulvin, with phospholipid monolayers used as models of biological membranes.

Griseofulvin (GF) is an oral antibiotic for widely occurring superficial mycosis in man and animals caused by dermaphyte fungi; it is also used in agriculture as a fungicide. The mechanism of the biological activity of GF is poorly understood. Here, the interactions of griseofulvin with lipid membranes were studied using 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC), 1,2-dilauroyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DLPC), and 1,2-myristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (DMPE) monolayers spread at the air/water interface.