Sleep-enhancing peptides in cow’s milk could help develop new, natural sleep remedies

There is mixed evidence regarding the effectiveness of BCAA supplements to increase muscle mass in its users. Research investigating such effects between those who took BCAA supplements and a placebo found that those who took the supplement reported increase energy metabolism and reduced levels of substances attributed to muscle damage. However, other researchers proposed there is a lack of consensus regarding the effects of BCAAs as a nutritional supplement. Despite disagreement in the scientific literature, it is indicated that potential overconsumption of BCAAs may pose health risks. However, more research is needed to further investigate the impact of both typical and excessive consumption.

What we're trying to do here at Benevolent is develop systems and processes that allow us to tap into the huge amount of public information and some propriety databases that we have paid to access and through that, generate hypotheses which our scientists can then triage. We've got over ten times the amount of information in our database at present (and it’s growing) than we believe that companies such as Watson have. Bringing that and filtering the signals from the ‘noise’ to our experienced drug discovery chemists and biologists, means, firstly, we can reduce the amount of time we take to triage new hypotheses, and secondly, we can develop more predictive chemical tools to allow us to make better molecules and also to reposition existing molecules for new indication.

The study by Williams was looking for variations in hemoglobin, the oxygen-binding protein found in red blood cells. There are disorders which lead to abnormalities in hemoglobin, which can cause serious illness or even death. Identifying these variants would lead to a better prognosis for people with such abnormalities, and the study found a variant by having the ability to differentiate between leucine and isoleucine. Methylmalonic acidemia (MMA) and propionic acidemia (PA) are metabolic disorders resulting from an inability to break down isoleucine, valine, methionine, and threonine (which are also amino acids), odd-chain fatty acids, as well as cholesterol. These are rare diseases which are known as “inborn errors of metabolism” (IEM). The restriction of certain foods and the use of medical foods can form part of the treatment for IEM disorders. Leucine is added to a lot of these medical foods, and is hence selected for patients with MMA and PA. As patients with MMA and PA cannot break down isoleucine and valine, foods containing these amino acids should be avoided. However, it was previously reported that avoiding such amino acids can lead to an imbalance in the amounts of branched chain amino acids in the blood. More specifically, the ratio of leucine to isoleucine/valine was found to be increased. This could have dire consequences, potentially disrupting the synthesis of neurotransmitters due to impaired amino acid transport into the brain. In this case, it would be pivotal to distinguish between leucine and isoleucine, as the balance between these two amino acids needs to be restored to avoid potential damage.

Gas chromatography and liquid chromatography are the dominant techniques for analysis of most things; gas chromatography if they are volatile, liquid chromatography if they are not. They are used for both the identification and quantification of materials, including very complex mixtures. When you get into the real world environment, the biological samples, these are very complex mixtures. It is interesting that the main source of employment in all areas of chemistry involves separations. If you do separations, then you will have a job. While employment opportunities were reduced during the pandemic, we did not experience that. Our students were getting job offers right through COVID, even with remote interviewing.

The medication, called daraxonrasib, is the first drug that targets cancer-causing mutations in pancreas cells. The drug targets a mutation in the KRAS gene, part of the RAS genetic family. KRAS mutations are present in 92% of pancreatic cancers. KRAS genes normally act as an "on-off" switch for cell growth. Mutated KRAS genes are stuck in the "on" position and send out a signal that causes cells to divide and grow uncontrollably, allowing cancer to form. Daraxonrasib blocks the KRAS signal by fitting into a keyhole-type spot on the gene. That spot has a complex shape and is difficult to reach within the cell. The drug gets around this problem by using a "passenger protein" as a Trojan horse. When the cell allows this protein in, daraxonrasib tags along.