Small molecules play a critical role in many biological processes and are used as drugs and other research tools.

At the IUPAC initiative the Global Women's Breakfast was held simultaneously on the 12th of February 2020, in different countries all over the world, uniting female scientists from the field of chemistry and related fields in a discussions on current trends in the organization of modern science (https://iupac.org/global-womens-breakfast/). Researchers Zinaida Osipova and Aleksandra Tsarkova of the Laboratory of Chemistry of Metabolic Pathways organized and hosted this event in Moscow in the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry RAS.

Scientists from the Laboratory of neuroreceptors and neuroregulators helped colleagues from Chengdu University (China) to conduct a series of in vivo experiments on wild-type and knockout by pain sensing receptors TRPV1 and P2X7 animals. It was shown that a stimulation of ST36 acupuncture point leads to an analgesic effect in the model of inflammation from the introduction of a slightly acidic solution into the paw, similar to the effects of selective TRPV1 and ASIC3 ion channel inhibitors. In the model of inflammation from the administration of α, β-meATP (a P2X1,3 purinergic receptor agonist) the ST36 point stimulation also reduced pain sensitivity, but not so effective as the P2X3 antagonist A-317491 or different ASIC3 channel blockers. The results are published in the British Journal of Pharmacology.

Researchers from the Laboratory of Bioinformatics Approaches in Combinatorial Chemistry and Biology IBCH RAS, in collaboration with Irish colleagues, recently published a review in WIRES RNA that compiles the computational approaches, software tools, and data resources that have been developed over the last ten years for ribosome profiling data processing and analysis.

Monitoring of minimum residual disease (MRD) is one of the most important diagnostic tests in the treatment of acute and chronic lymphoblastic leukemia. Currently, several methods for MRD are used, the most sensitive of which is the assessment and monitoring of clonal rearrangements in the immunoglobulin genes characteristic of tumor cells. High sensitivity, up to 1 tumor cell per million, is achieved by using next generation highthroughput sequencing technology (Illumina).

Protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) belongs to the class II arginine methyltransferases and catalyzes monomethylation and symmetrical dimethylation of arginines on proteins. It has recently emerged as a promising cancer drug target, and two PRMT5 inhibitors are currently in clinical trials for a range malignancies. Despite the recognized therapeutic potential, it is unclear which PRMT5 functions underlie its oncogenic activity.

A group of scientists from the Laboratory of Molecular Bases of Embryogenesis, IBCh RAS, together with colleagues from the Laboratory of Mathematical Methods and Models in Bioinformatics, IPPI RAS developed a bioinformatics method that allows one to reveal genes that appear or disappear at a certain stage of evolution. Using this method, a number of genes were found that disappeared in warm-blooded animals, including humans.

All genomes contain millions of short open reading frames (<100 codons) that are discarded during genome annotation. Recently, it has been shown that peptides encoded by short open reading frames can perform many important functions in animal cells.

Researchers discovered the biomolecular mechanism of fireworm glow.

Prof. Ilya Vinnikov from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University will deliver a lecture entitled «The top-down strategy in deciphering the roles of microRNAs in the metabolic and neurodegenerative models». Date and time: Tue 20 August 2019 14:00. Location: Conference hall at 5th floor BON IBCh.

Lipids 2020 Conference, October 19-21, 2020, IBCH RAS, Moscow