The National Institutes of Health plans to expand its Encyclopedia of DNA Elements

NIH: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) plans to expand its Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) Project, which is generating a fundamental genomics resource used by many scientists to study human health and disease. Funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of NIH, the ENCODE Project strives to catalog all the genes and regulatory elements - the parts of the genome that control whether genes are active or not - in humans and select model organisms. With four years of additional support, NHGRI builds on a long-standing commitment to developing freely available genomics resources for use by the scientific community.

New method could fast-track existing drugs as novel treatments for depression

London: Research from King’s College London reveals a new method of repurposing existing drugs as novel treatments for depression, using laboratory studies of brain cells. The results reflect a growing movement towards repurposing drugs that have been developed for one condition to tackle another. This approach effectively bypasses the discovery phase of drug development, which could save significant time and money in finding effective treatments. Finding ways to fast-track the discovery of new antidepressants is crucial as around half of all people diagnosed with depression do not respond to first-line treatments.