drug development

Robot-Assisted Experiments Point to Treatments for Rare Cancer

Study Identifies Drugs That Exploit the Disease’s Weak Spots

drug-screening robots performing automated experiments

The best way to destroy a cancer cell is to target its weak points, but that’s obviously easier said than done, especially when you want to kill those diseased cells while sparing healthy ones. That’s where robots come in, allowing scientists to quickly evaluate the effects of thousands of drugs on cancer to see what works and what doesn’t. IRP researchers recently used that approach to identify potential treatments for a rare skin cancer, including a strategy that appears to be particularly good at hitting the disease where it’s most vulnerable.

Experimental Psoriasis Drug Comes With An ‘On-Off’ Switch

IRP Research Could Lead to Light-Activated Treatments for Numerous Diseases

light bulb

Many helpful contraptions we use every day would be problematic if we couldn’t turn them off when we didn't need them. After all, you wouldn’t want to leave your oven on when you’re out of town, and most people wouldn’t sleep well with their bedside lamp on all night. Many medical treatments would benefit from the same flexibility, but creating such treatments is no easy task. IRP researchers recently took a significant step forward in this area by creating an experimental treatment for an irritating skin condition that can be activated and inactivated using different colors of light.

Targeting Tuberculosis

IRP’s Clifton Barry Seeks Novel Therapies for an Ancient Foe

Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria

March 24 is World Tuberculosis Day, a day to remember that a preventable and curable disease still kills more than a million people each year. Despite every effort to eradicate it, the disease-causing bug, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, keeps coming back stronger and more ready for a fight. As varieties of the bacteria grow more and more resistant to treatment, an evolutionary war is raging between the bacterium and researchers like IRP senior investigator Clifton Barry, Ph.D., who has been seeking solutions for the past 33 years.

Michael Gottesman Reflects on Tenure Leading Intramural Research Program

Renowned Cancer Scientist Stepped Down After 29 Years in Position

Dr. Michael Gottesman

Dr. Michael Gottesman has been a member of the NIH community since 1976. He has held many positions throughout his tenure, including spending 29 years as the Deputy Director of Intramural Research (DDIR). He stepped down as DDIR this past year and has returned to focusing solely on being Chief of the Lab of Cell Biology at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Dr. Gottesman recently participated in an interview with the NIH Office of Technology Transfer, excerpts of which we are re-posting here on the "I Am Intramural" blog. 

A New Approach to Male Birth Control

Research in Cells Shows Promise for an Alternative Way to Halt Sperm Production

birth control pills

Birth control has long been mostly one-sided, as the vast majority of contraceptive methods are intended exclusively for women. However, recent IRP research has shown the potential of a new approach towards creating a reversible method of male contraception.

Women have a vast array of contraceptive options available to them, from ‘the pill’ to intrauterine devices (IUDs) and other products. However, for men, the only options aside from condoms are safe but irreversible surgical procedures. More than 40 percent of pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended, and additional options for male birth control could help reduce that number.

Old Drugs Find New Potential Against Hepatitis C

IRP Research Highlights a Novel Target to Stop Viral Infections

drug-screening robot

On July 28, health providers, researchers, patients, advocates, and governments across the globe observe World Hepatitis Day. Like this year’s theme, ‘Hepatitis Can’t Wait,’ IRP researchers are wasting no time utilizing the unique resources at the National Institutes of Health to identify innovative ways to combat the virus.

IRP Distinguished Investigator T. Jake Liang, M.D., for example, has focused his life’s work on understanding how hepatitis viruses infect, replicate, and persist in cells. The viruses he studies, hepatitis B and C, together affect more than 10 percent of the worlds’ population and are the most common causes of chronic liver disease and liver cancer. The two viruses were originally discovered in the 1980s by another IRP scientist, Harvey J. Alter, M.D., who shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine for that work in 2020. Nearly three decades later, Dr. Liang’s lab at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) worked with scientists at the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) to develop a novel test to screen thousands of molecules using a technology called high-throughput screening, which led to the discovery of several compounds with the potential to block hepatitis C infection.

Experimental Compound Supercharges Cellular Power Plants

Treatment Approach Could Combat Obesity and Its Consequences

light bulb

When your phone or laptop is low on power, you simply connect it to a charger and find the nearest electrical outlet, but the process of restoring lagging energy production in our cells is not nearly as simple. However, a new IRP study has identified a promising approach for doing just that, which could lead to new treatments for obesity and related metabolic ailments like heart disease and diabetes.

A Ray of Hope for a Rare and Deadly Skin Cancer

IRP Research Leads to First FDA-Approved Therapy for Merkel Cell Carcinoma

Dr. James Gulley talking with a patient

May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month. Skin cancers are the most common cancer in the U.S., affecting as many as five million people every year. Yet the rarest of these cancers is also one of the deadliest. Merkel cell carcinoma affects about 3,000 Americans each year, and until recently a lack of effective treatments meant only half of patients survived five years or longer after diagnosis. The median survival was nine months.

This bleak outlook changed radically in 2017 with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of a new immunotherapy drug called avelumab. Developed through a collaboration between IRP researchers and the pharmaceutical company EMD Serono, Inc., and marketed as Bavencio, avelumab was the first treatment approved specifically for Merkel cell carcinoma.

IRP Supercomputer Enables Rapid Response to Coronavirus

Biowulf Lends Massive Computing Power to NIH Research Efforts

rows of computer servers

Nations around the world are bringing every weapon in their arsenals to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic: vaccines, new and existing therapeutics, personal protective equipment like face masks, and enough hand sanitizer to fill the Atlantic Ocean. The NIH community is contributing to this unprecedented effort with a tool that no other research institution can claim: Biowulf, the world’s most powerful supercomputer solely dedicated to biomedical research.

Pandemic Brings All Hands on Deck

IRP Investigators Begin Hundreds of New Coronavirus-Related Studies

coronavirus particles (gold) emerging from an infected cell

Within just a few months after COVID-19 began spreading in the United States, IRP researchers had already made numerous important contributions to the fight against the deadly virus. Scientific knowledge about the disease continues to expand at a unprecedented pace, and the IRP will continue to play a major role in this effort over the coming months and years. In fact, nearly 300 new intramural research projects related to the novel coronavirus are currently starting up or have already begun.