eBriefing
Academy eBriefings
From Peptides to Polymers: Molecular Probes for Biological Investigation
Michael Famulok, Universität Bonn; Yu Liu, New York University; Philip Effraim, Columbia University; Elizabeth George Cisar, The Rockefeller University; Justin Cisar, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; Elizabeth Harker, Yale University; Keith Baessler, Stony Brook University
Highlights
- Aptamers are highly selective and versatile molecules that can be used to screen small molecule libraries for drug-like compounds.
- Aptamer screening has been used to identify small molecule inhibitors of HIV reverse transcriptase with novel structures yet activities that are similar to currently used drugs.
- These techniques have also been used to identify small molecules that inhibit cytohesins, a family of proteins involved in cytoskeletal remodeling.
- These inhibitory small molecules have been used to gain important new insights into interactions of cytohesins with insulin receptor complexes.
© 2008 New York Academy of Sciences, all rights reserved
