A growing team of groundbreaking scientists around the world are now sharing their lab notebooks online
It’s never too late to take another look at your data. The incredibly knowledgeable Sally Cowley suggested that I shouldn’t just think about how many cells contain any AlexFluor488 antibody after electroporation, but how bright each cell is (i.e. the amplitude of fluorescence). Looking at this instead will give me an idea of how much Read More …
Background: The binding potency of M4K compounds to ALK2 has been assayed in biochemical assay and cellular assays in HEK293 or C2C12 myoblast cell lines. However, the potency of ALK2 inhibition by M4K compounds has not determined directly in DIPG patient-derived cell lines. While no major deviation from existing assay data is expected, direct experimental Read More …
Background: I have been characterising the cellular potency of many M4K compounds against ALK2 and ALK5. Compounds that targets ALK2 and not ALK5 should be further evaluated for their ability to reduce the viability of cells derived from DIPG patients. Although these cultured cells might not reflect what actually happens in a DIPG patient’s brain, Read More …
Background: Aside from determining the optimal numbers of DIPG cells to be seeded for viability assay, it is also important to validate that measurements using CellTiter Glo are in agreement with other methods of determining cell viability. Experimental design: I chose to compare the EC50 values of M4K2009 on HSJD-DIPG-007 when measured using different methods. Read More …
As soon as possible I’m hoping to use CRISPR/Cas9 genetic editing to make sets of DIPG patient cells that differ only in one gene (either with/without the whole gene or with/without mutations of interest). This will allow me to make far more accurate comparisons of behaviour between the cells in relation to specific genes or Read More …
Background: Evaluation of the efficacy of M4K compounds in DIPG patient-derived cell lines is essential before any promising compounds can be further tested in mouse xenograft models. This approach can aid in narrowing down clinical compound candidates and reduce the time, resources and animal sacrifice needed downstream. A robust and efficient readout for the changes Read More …
Stem cells are a set of cells that, unlike most cells in the body, can divide as many times as they want, and can turn into any cell in the body. The mutations in cancer often make the cells behave more like stem cells, because in order to grow into a large tumour they may Read More …
Special thanks to: David Drewry – Helped with designing the nanoBRET tracers M4K pharma OICR chemist team – Synthesised the M4K1046-linker derivatives Carrow Wells (UNC) – Conjugated the M4K1046 to nanoBRET fluorophore Background: I have always wanted to establish nanoBRET target engagement assay for ALK5. Relative to dual luciferase promoter assay and immunofluorescent staining, nanoBRET Read More …
Did you know as many as 30% of the cells in labs could be misidentified? And what a nightmare it would be to find out years of your work are just completely wrong because you got your skin cells mixed up with your brain cells… So to avoid that catastrophe, I took some time to Read More …
I’ve not posted in a while, mainly because things have been really busy, but good busy, as I now have 3 new datasets/structures, of ALK2 with M4K2118, M4K2149 and, amazingly, M4K2009. As you know, this is our lead candidate, which until now has not behaved very well in crystal trials, and it hasn’t been possible Read More …
