Work on rare molecule aims to enhance cell therapy and deliver functional cure for HIV
Monday, April 27, 2020 - 14:03
in Biology & Nature
Stanford University chemist Paul Wender and his colleagues are working to improve treatments for cancer, HIV and Alzheimer's—and they are betting that a drab, weedy marine invertebrate is the means to achieving that end. They have focused on this seemingly unremarkable organism, called Bugula neritina, because it cooperates with a bug in its gut to produce bryostatin (specifically, bryostatin-1), a molecule that can manipulate cellular activity in crucial and controllable ways.