Research into stopping tumor growth was recently featured in BBC Science Focus Magazine as one of the world's "20 moments in 2020 to be excited about." A compound that activates an enzyme capable of suppressing tumors was discovered by a cross-institutional team from the University of Michigan and Case Western Reserve University.
The team designed a molecule that could attach to a PP2A enzyme and used a special type of microscope in order to “see precisely how different parts of the protein were brought together and stabilized by the compound,” said the study’s co-senior author Derek Taylor, PhD an associate professor at Case Western Reserve and member of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The work was spearheaded by two first-authors from Dr. Taylor's group, Daniel Leonard, a Medical Scientist Training Program (MTSP) student and Research Scientist Wei Huang, PhD.