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Authors’ predicted structures of a molecular sled

Protein interactions via a new type of biochemistry- one-dimensional biochemistry

ӳý core institute member Paul Blainey recalls that toward the end of his graduate training in Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard nearly a decade ago, things became really interesting. He got a request for help from a scientist who studies viruses that would later lead to their discovery of a new vehicle for intracellular transport dubbed a “molecular sled” and help chart the path of Blainey’s own scientific career.

Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) hold therapeutic potential for many diverse diseases, including psychiatric disease and diabetes. But so far, most HDACi were found to inhibit more than one histone deacetylase, a characteristic that can decrease efficacy and contribute to side effects. In work published in , researchers Edward Holson and Florence Wagner of the ӳý’s Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, and colleagues present a toolkit of highly potent and differentially selective HDACi, which they developed to understand . The paper also reports the results of a collaboration with Bridget Wagner of ӳý’s Center for the Science of Therapeutics, who used the toolkit to reveal that the isoform selective inhibition of HDAC3 by BRD3308 protects pancreatic beta cells from the effects of diabetes.

Tumor cells grow around blood vessels

By scouring the genomes of a mysterious, blood vessel-hugging brain tumor in children, researchers unearth a single mutation that helps unlock its biology.

Cancer can be a devastating diagnosis at any age, but it is particularly tragic in young children. While many pediatric tumors are now readily treated or even cured, for other forms, particularly tumors of the brain, the outcomes are not so rosy.

And yet, somewhat surprisingly, these childhood cancers remain understudied and underfunded relative to their adult counterparts.