Award details

A real-time fluorescent assay of guanylyl cyclase activity

Reference	BBS/E/B/0000L244
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr Tomas Bellamy
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	Babraham Institute
Department	Babraham Institute Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	43,140
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	06/07/2009
End date	05/07/2010
Duration	12 months

Abstract

Guanylyl cyclase is an enzyme that controls many physiological processes. Malfunction in guanylyl cyclase activity is implicated in a range of diseases, including hypertension, toxic shock, and neurodegenerative diseases such as stroke and Alzheimer's. It is therefore important to understand how guanylyl cyclase works, both in order to understand how the enzyme functions in healthy and pathological states and to develop drugs that can enhance or inhibit its activity. Current methods for measuring guanylyl cyclase activity are laborious and time-consuming. We have developed a new chemical indicator which gives a continuous read-out of enzyme activity without the need for further processing or additional reagents. In principle, this offers a very useful tool for probing the mechanism of activation of guanylyl cyclase at a molecular level of detail, as well as a means for rapidly and efficiently testing drugs that influence the enzyme. However, the current indicator has limitations that make it difficult to use in some experimental conditions, and we therefore plan to develop and refine the chemistry of the compound to circumvent these problems. If successful, the proposed research will result in a new tool that will accelerate the rate at which biological, pharmacological and pharmaceutical research into guanylyl cyclase can be carried out. We hope that this tool will increase the speed at which drugs are developed to treat the numerous disease states in which the enzyme is implicated.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Technology and Methods Development
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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