Into the pits: clathrin inhibiters licensed to UK biotech

Hot on the heels of their design of two new molecules that inhibit clathrin function, researchers at the Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI), University of Newcastle and Freie Universitaet Berlin have licensed the molecules to UK biotech, Ascent Scientific.

The deal includes an exclusive license, supply and distribution agreement with Ascent for continued research into cellular processes such as endocytosis. The molecules emerged from a collaborative effort between Professor Volker Haucke from Freie Universitaet Berlin, Professor Phil Robinson from the CMRI and Professor Adam McCluskey from the University of Newcastle.

Read more about pitstop 1 and pitstop 2.

It was McCluskey who actually designed the molecules, anticipating they would block endocytosis – which is precisely what they did.

The molecules, pitstop 1 and pitstop 2, operate in a slightly different way, but both prevent the characteristic ‘pits’ from forming in the cell wall, which could enable them to prevent viruses like HIV from invading cells.

“The scientific community has long been awaiting the development of potent and reliable inhibitors of clathrin function, in particular endocytosis,” said Professor Haucke.

“These compounds should enable researchers to obtain new insights into clathrin function and to modulate cell signalling as well as neurotransmission.”

Professor Robinson anticipates that the molecules will be very useful to researchers trying to understand endocytosis. “It will be particularly valuable to cell biologists to now be able to choose their own timing of clathrin inhibition to suit their particular research, rather than wait two to three days for a knock-down.”

The deal with facilitated by Bio-Link Australia.