Harvard Office of Technology Development

Preventing Stress-Induced Greying of Hair

Loss of hair pigmentation has long been associated with stress; however, stress-related changes at the level of the somatic cell have only recently been elucidated. The hair follicle consists of two stem cell populations: epithelial-derived hair…

Investigators

Ya-Chieh Hsu
Bing Zhang

Red Blood Cell-Hitchhiking for Targeted Drug Delivery

Drug delivery utilizing nanocarriers (NCs) as a targeted approach has been actively pursued; however, even with the use of different affinity moieties such as antibodies to improve targeting and reduce off-target toxicity, NCs are predominately…

Investigators

Samir Mitragotri

Inhibiting Microbial Metabolism of Levodopa to Increase Availability in the CNS

Parkinson’s disease (PD) impacts 10 million people globally, with 60,000 Americans newly diagnosed every year. Levodopa remains the gold standard treatment for PD, despite limitations including side effects and peripheral metabolism. Current…

Investigators

Emily Balskus

Ionic liquid aerosols for respiratory complications related to COVID-19

Researchers in the lab of Samir Mitragotri have developed ionic liquid aerosols that have the potential to combat pulmonary bacterial infections. The technology may help to treat the respiratory conditions resulting from COVID-19 infection and…

Investigators

Samir Mitragotri

Compounds that block human cytomegalovirus by targeting the nuclear egress complex

Researchers in Dr. Donald Coen’s lab have identified molecules that inhibit human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) virion egress from the cell, effectively inhibiting HCMV replication. The team is looking to expand on these findings in collaborations that…

Investigators

Donald Coen

Novel annulation catalysts via direct C-H bond amination

Introducing functionality into unactivated C-H bonds, a ubiquitous group in organic molecules, remains a significant challenge due to the inertness of the substrate. Traditional synthesis strategies involve functional group exchange, an inefficient…

Investigators

Theodore Betley
Elisabeth Hennessy
Alexandre Mikhailine
Claudia Kleinlein
Yuyang Dong
Yunjung Baek

Polymixin synergistic novobiocin analogs for efficacious and safer treatment of Gram negative infections

The lipopolysaccharide (LPS) containing outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria prevent penetration of antibiotics, making them ineffective against infections. Polymyxins, including colistin, bind LPS and disrupt the outer membrane and hence are…

Investigators

Daniel Kahne

Stapled peptide that inhibits bacterial transporter

Multidrug-resistant infection has become a worldwide epidemic in recent years especially in hospitals and other community-associated settings, causing great suffering of patients and huge healthcare burden. According to CDC, at least 23,000 people…

Investigators

Martin Karplus

Novel antibiotics against Gram-negative and drug-resistant bacterial pathogens

Dr. Kahne has a pipeline of programs aimed at developing first-in-class antibiotics:Program I: Potentiator of polymixin, increasing its therapeutic index for treatment of drug-resistant infectionsIn vitro: Novel agent potentiates activity of…

Investigators

Daniel Kahne

SIM-PAL: proteome wide identification of small molecule binding sites

Precise target identification for small molecules is an important and essential step in drug development. Despite its importance, there are very few unbiased, proteome-wide approaches aimed at identifying binding partners for small molecules. In…

Investigators

Christina Woo