The Week in Bio #31
Research highlights from the week
Specificity, length and luck: how genes are prioritized by rare and common variant association studies (link). Preprint from the Pritchard Lab that seeks to understand the differences in genes prioritised by GWAS and LoF burden testing.
Targeted KRAS(G12V) degradation elicits efficient and durable lung adenocarcinoma regression in vivo (link). Study looking at the therapeutic efficacy of KRAS(G12V)-targeted degradation in a preclinical mouse model of lung adenocarcinoma.
Structures and mechanism of condensation in nonribosomal peptide synthesis (link). New structures of a nonribosomal peptide synthetase provide insights into the mechanism of nonribosomal peptide synthesis.
Open Targets: 10 years of partnership in target discovery (link). A nice overview of the achievements of Open Targets.
Biopharma deals get smaller and earlier (link). 2024 is set to be the lowest year for biopharma M&A volume since 2017. Deal numbers are up compared to 2023 and deals are focused on earlier stage assets.
Semantic mining of functional de novo genes from a genomic language model (link). This preprint uses Evo to generate novel DNA sequences with similar functions to a prompt DNA sequence.
APOE Genotype and Statin Response: Evidence from Electronic Health Records in the UK Biobank and All of Us Research Program (link). Preprint investigating the relationship between APOE genotype and outcomes in new statin users.
Chemical engineering of CRISPR-Cas systems for therapeutic application (link). Review covering the chemical modifications and engineering approaches for CRISPR-based therapeutics.
Covalent inhibitors of the RAS binding domain of PI3Ka impair tumor growth driven by RAS and HER2 (link). Preprint describing the development of a small molecule that can disrupt the RAS-p110α interaction.
De novo design and structure of a peptide-centric TCR mimic binding module (link). This preprint describes using an α-helical structural scaffold to design peptide-specific TCR mimic immunotherapies. Here is a recent perspective on other papers in this space.
The new logo for the Week in Bio was created by Megan Gozzard. Check out more of her work here.