A team of University of Pittsburgh neuroscientists and computational biologists have moved another step toward preventing brain cell death after an acute stroke event. In a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they describe how first-in-class molecules discovered by student Zhaofeng Ye and Professor Carlos J. Camacho stops a key protein-protein interaction from opening the door to stroke-triggered damage to neurons.

Dr. Carlos Camacho

Yeh CY, Ye Z, Moutal A, Gaur S, Henton AM, Kouvaros S, Saloman J Hartnett-Scott KA, Tzounopoulos T, Khanna R, Aizenman E, Camacho C. Defining the Kv2.1-syntaxin molecular interaction identifies a first-in-class small molecule neuroprotectant. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2019 Jul 15. pii: 201903401. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1903401116.