‘Commando’ has been called up to fight illnesses

RESEARCHERS at Dundee University have identified a “molecular commando” that can help the body fight illnesses such as stroke, angina and brain injuries.

The uni scientists have used pioneering techniques to launch a small molecule “chemical probe” that can activate a hypoxic response i n t he brain, which can be used as a process to fight various ailments.

The team, lead by Professor Alessio Ciulli, discovered the molecule after pooling resources from laboratories across the scientific community.

Prof Ciulli said the univ e r s i t y ’s “p i o n e e r i n g ” research methods helped make it one of the country’s top academic institutions.

He said: “The difficulty with some of the existing methods of tackling this pathway is that they affect stages which are also involved i n other processes, meaning you are potentially triggering sideeffects, which makes it harder to control the overall outcomes.

“We have i dentified a stage of the pathway that is very specific and doesn’t have this broad range of activity.”

He continued: “By targeting it we can be much more specific in the actions we are triggering in the cell.

“This is important as a chemical probe because it means we can make better measurements of cause and effect and build more information about how hypoxia works and how we may be able to control it.

“It also offers a potential drug target i n itself. We have been able to develop this project due t o t he world-class expertise we have at Dundee.”