Exciting to see the approval of linerixibat for cholestatic pruritus—an IBAT inhibitor that targets the underlying bile acid biology driving itch. A great example of basic science translating into real therapies. Curious to see where IBAT inhibitors go next.

#DBfeature The role of Goldilocks protein kinase DYRK1A in embryonic development By Katherine Johnson, Larisa Litovchick, Amanda Dickinson tinyurl.com/4asapuv9

A new study of 2,157 adults found that APOE4 carriers who ate the most unprocessed meat had ~55% lower dementia risk, effectively eliminating their typical 2.5x increased Alzheimer’s risk and even showing improved cognitive outcomes over 10 years. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Integration of alternative fragmentation techniques into standard LC-MS workflows using a single deep learning model enhances proteome coverage #nature #MassSpecRSS

The escalating war in the Middle East so far has not appreciably disrupted global pharmaceutical supply chains, but it could eventually — affecting prices. www.statnews.com/pharmalot/20...

Chemist/physician Dr. Maud Menten co-authored the seminal paper 𝘋𝘪𝘦 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘬 𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘐𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘸𝘪𝘳𝘬𝘶𝘯𝘨, 1931. This intro'd the Michaelis–Menten equation (image). It remains a cornerstone of #biochemistry, used in drug design, metabolic studies & enzyme engineering. She was born #OTD in 1879. #WomenInSTEM

one of the coolest papers i've seen in a long time - direct conversion of alkenes to alkynes. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

best toc figure

AlphaFold database has entered the era of complexes. Together with NVIDIA, DeepMind and EBI, we use ColabFold, OpenFold and MMseqs2-GPU to predict ~31 million complexes (homo & hetro-dimers) resulting in 1.8 million high-quality predictions 📄 research.nvidia.com/labs/dbr/ass... 🌐 alphafold.ebi.ac.uk

Avogadro 2.0 drops April 1st — and no, that's not a joke! 🧪⚗️ Now's the perfect time to help improve translations before release. Every language matters for chemistry worldwide. #opensource #openscience hosted.weblate.org/engage/avoga...

ICYMI: New online: A proteome-wide dependency map of protein interaction motifs

woooooo we got the cover! fun article to write, check it out.

📢Our latest issue is now online! Check out the review behind the cover by @sculpturatus.bsky.social & co. at @uarizona.bsky.social looking at the history, synthesis and medicinal use of cantharidin, LB-100, and their analogs #medchem pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

“AI” means a hundred different things. In drug discovery, it already works for ADME, PK/PD, and molecule optimization — and that’s real progress. But most failures come from target biology, not chemistry. To bend clinical success, AI must move from optimization to causality.

cattle dog (brattle)

happy friday

You can create images like this in a couple minutes using 100% free software. Check out tutorials by @bradyajohnston.bsky.social

PyMol + Blender is cool. Learned this from @bradyajohnston.bsky.social

FDA Approval Watch: Neurodegeneration is getting hot. Small-molecule programs targeting sigma receptors, LRRK2, brain cortisol, ISR stress pathways, and RNA splicing are advancing across Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, and rare ataxias — pushing beyond symptomatic care toward disease modification.

FDA approved ADQUEY (difamilast) for atopic dermatitis. A topical PDE4 inhibitor that reduces inflammatory signaling, offering a non-steroidal option for patients ≥2 years old. Targeted, mechanism-based small-molecule therapies keep advancing.

FDA Approval of the Month – January Copper histidinate is now the first FDA-approved treatment for Menkes disease. A major milestone for a devastating X-linked disorder, showing how early, biology-driven intervention can meaningfully improve outcomes for patients and families.

excuse me do you have a moment to talk about ball

as more and more synthetic drugs resemble natural products in their properties, this is a timely overview of natural products in the last 20 years of medicine. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Let's start the year off right with an exciting paper post! In this @chemcomm.rsc.org paper, the groups of @meganwright.bsky.social and Stuart Warriner investigate the metal-independent labeling of proteins using isocyanides. pubs.rsc.org/en/content/artic... ##ChemBio #ChemSky #CovalentInhibitors

Bad antibodies are such a huge problem. It’s not just the money wasted on buying them. It’s the amount of time spent trying to validate them.

Ok here it is - out of 44 FDA approvals this year, 31 are small molecules (70%), 26 of those are oral drugs (84%), 22 of them are chiral (71%). This is the largest number and percentage of chiral FDA approved molecules in a single year. Fitusiran is not a small molecule, bonus.

Cantharidin was approved by the FDA in 2023 but its medicinal use goes back thousands of years. In 1927 Diels and Alder attempted to make the natural product using their namesake 4+2 cycloaddition but with no luck. Since then, a who's who list of chemists have tackled the compound. Read about more!

What if one molecule could do all of this? • Boost CAR-T cytotoxicity • ↑ CD8⁺ T-cell tumor infiltration, ↓ Tregs • Potentiate checkpoint blockade • Suppress DNA repair • Induce alternative splicing & neoantigen presentation • Inhibit P-gp drug efflux LB-100 is in clinical trials - read more!

Klebanoff and Walz publish another TCR structure which explains how TCR binding to p/HLA triggers intracellular signaling. CryoEM in native environment reveals a 'jack-in-the-box' mechanism - super super cool www.nature.com/articles/s41...

holy wow - what school is this

A tall glass of water outside of old main

William Withering popularized the use of foxglove which ultimately led to today's FDA approved cardiac glycoside digoxin. His degrees are listed as "MD, FRS, etc. etc." 😂

Well shoot. Mice shouldnt get tattoos then.

1. This is really cool, great idea 2. Who came up with these reaction choices, my sophomore organic text? #chemchat www.organicdivision.org/2025-organic...

Actually I'd love to get a count on here of who's actually done particular reactions. I bet there are loads of odd ones chemsky has drawn on when needed

Has anyone here ever, even once, done a Wulff-Kishner reaction? #chemchat

What Do Oral Drugs Really Look Like? Dose Regimen, Pharmacokinetics, and Safety of Recently Approved Small-Molecule Oral Drugs

The @ragoninstitute.bsky.social is launching a new faculty search for a computational immunologist! Applications are open now and reviewed on a rolling basis. Please share broadly with your networks! #immunosky www.nature.com/naturecareer...

Just mapped out all 2025 FDA small-molecule approvals — and the trends are striking. Oncology dominates again, but a few companies really stood out: • Bayer: 2 approvals • Boehringer Ingelheim: 2 • Novartis: 2 • Sanofi: 2 (Poster below 👇) #FDA #DrugDiscovery #Biotech #Oncology

I started making a poster for my Med Chem undergrads because I want them to be able to immediately identify common drug classes by structure. Which others would you add to these?

This is Bloodlines Kaos Hemingway. His mom was named Dry Springs Rumors of a Rebellion. Good names make good dogs.

You can already buy this OTC on amazon.

Novo Nordisk’s recent clinical setback with GLP-1s in Alzheimer’s highlights a broader truth: metabolic peptides aren’t automatically neurotherapeutics. The next real opportunity lies in brain-penetrant, neuroprotective, glycosylated PACAP-derived peptides. www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/22...

quite interesting indeed. GLP-1s are everywhere and ketohexokinase inhibitors might treat alcoholism.

How old are you??? just kidding. reposting for visibility.

Fun fact: perfluorhexyloctane is approved by the FDA as an ophthalmic solution to treat symptoms of dry eye disease. Solubility = 0 Half-life = forever

2025 FDA approvals (as of Dec 1): 38 novel drugs • 28 small molecules (74%) 67% of those are chiral — highest % in FDA history (1951–2025) After years of biologics rising, 2025 is the year of the comeback for single-enantiomer drugs. #FDAApprovals #Chirality #DrugDiscovery