Search results for "MIM"

Peptidomimetics – An infinite reservoir of metal binding motifs in metabolically stable and biologically active molecules

2020

The involvement of metal ions in interactions with therapeutic peptides is inevitable. They are one of the factors able to fine-tune the biological properties of antimicrobial peptides, a promising group of drugs with one large drawback - a problematic metabolic stability. Appropriately chosen, proteolytically stable peptidomimetics seem to be a reasonable solution of the problem, and the use of D-, β-, γ-amino acids, unnatural amino acids, azapeptides, peptoids, cyclopeptides and dehydropeptides is an infinite reservoir of metal binding motifs in metabolically stable, well-designed, biologically active molecules. Below, their specific structural features, metal-chelating abilities and anti…

Single Peptide Backbone Surrogate Mutations to Regulate Angiotensin GPCR Subtype Selectivity

2020

Mutating the side-chains of amino acids in a peptide ligand, with unnatural amino acids, aiming to mitigate its short half-life is an established approach. However, it is hypothesized that mutating specific backbone peptide bonds with bioisosters can be exploited not only to enhance the proteolytic stability of parent peptides, but also to tune its receptor subtype selectivity. Towards this end, four [Y]6-Angiotensin II analogues are synthesized where amide bonds have been replaced by 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazole isosteres in four different backbone locations. All the analogues possessed enhanced stability in human plasma in comparison with the parent peptide, whereas only two of them a…

Peptide microarrays enable rapid mimotope optimization for pharmacokinetic analysis of the novel therapeutic antibody IMAB362.

2014

As membrane proteins play an important role in a variety of life-threatening diseases, the development of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies against membrane proteins is of significant interest. Among many other requirements, the process of antibody drug development requires a set of tailor-made assays for the characterization of the antibodies and for monitoring their activity. Designing assays to characterize antibodies directed to membrane proteins is challenging, because the natural targets are often not available in a format that is compatible with a biochemical assay setup. Thus, alternatives that mimic the targeted membrane proteins are needed. In this study, we developed optimal pept…

Cardiovascular effects induced by rolipram, a selective cAMP phosphodiesterase inhibitor: Interaction with adrenergic and calcium affecting drugs

1990

Betasympathomimetika und andere Arzneimittel zur Feuchtinhalationstherapie

2011

Electronic structure and optical properties of CdTe rock-salt high pressure phase

2003

This paper reports on optical absorption and reflectance measurements in thin CdTe samples up to 15 GPa. All studied samples become virtually opaque at the pressure transition between the zinc-blende and rock-salt phases (3.9 GPa). As pressure increases up to 10 GPa, a relative transparency region is observed between 1.2 eV and 2.4 eV, whose high energy edge shifts to higher photon energies. Above 10 GPa the transparency region gradually shrinks and disappears at about 11 GPa. The low energy side of the absorption spectrum is attributed to free carrier absorption, as electronic structure calculations show that rock-salt CdTe is a semimetal or a low gap semiconductor. Band filling effects lo…

Bioinspired actuated adhesive patterns of liquid crystalline elastomers.

2012

Gecko-inspired arrays of micropillars made of a liquid crystalline elastomer display thermoswitchable adhesive behavior as a consequence of elongation changes caused by reorientation of the mesogens at the nematic-isotropic (N-I) phase transition.

Haloperoxidase Mimicry by CeO2−xNanorods Combats Biofouling

2016

CeO2-x nanorods are functional mimics of natural haloperoxidases. They catalyze the oxidative bromination of phenol red to bromophenol blue and of natural signaling molecules involved in bacterial quorum sensing. Laboratory and field tests with paint formulations containing 2 wt% of CeO2-x nanorods show a reduction in biofouling comparable to Cu2 O, the most typical biocidal pigment.

Whence pseudoscience? An epidemiological approach

2017

In this paper, we develop an epidemiological approach to account for the typical features and persistent popularity of pseudoscience. An epidemiology of pseudoscience aims at explaining why some beliefs become widely distributed whereas others do not and hence seeks to identify the factors that exert a causal effect on this distribution. We pinpoint and discuss several factors that promote the dissemination of pseudoscientific beliefs. In particular, we argue that such beliefs manage to spread widely because they are intuitively appealing, manage to hitchhike on the authority of science, and successfully immunize themselves from criticism.

Light-Driven Extremely Nonlinear Bulk Photogalvanic Currents

2021

We predict the generation of bulk photocurrents in materials driven by bichromatic fields that arc circularly polarized and corotating. The nonlinear photocurrents have a fully controllable directionality and amplitude without requiring carrier-envelope-phase stabilization or few-cycle pulses, and can be generated with photon energies much smaller than the band gap (reducing heating in the photoconversion process). We demonstrate with ab initio calculations that the photocurrent generation mechanism is universal and arises in gaped materials (Si, diamond, MgO, hBN), in semimetals (graphene), and in two- and three-dimensional systems. Photocurrents are shown to rely on sub-laser-cycle asymme…