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The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has launched the AI Small Molecule Drug Discovery Center, a bold endeavor that harnesses artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionize drug development. The new Center will integrate AI with traditional drug discovery methods to identify and design new small-molecule therapeutics with unprecedented speed and precision. Unlike conventional drug discovery, which can take years and cost billions, AI-driven approaches enable researchers to rapidly navigate a vast chemical landscape, including natural products, to pinpoint promising drug candidates. By leveraging Mount Sinai鈥檚 world-leading expertise in machine learning, chemical biology, and biomedical data science, the Center aims to bring innovative treatments to patients faster鈥攑articularly for diseases with urgent unmet needs, including cancer, metabolic disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases.

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Young adults in pain start using cannabis earlier and are more likely to mix it with alcohol, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York.

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Researchers at UC San Diego have confirmed the presence of xylazine in the illicit drug supply at the U.S.-Mexico border. While xylazine remains less common in the Western U.S., border cities serve as key trafficking hubs and may have higher rates of emerging substances.

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Male and female rats with a chronic pain condition release different amounts of dopamine when given fentanyl because of sex hormones, according to a new study from WashU Medicine. The findings might help explain why men have higher rates of opioid use and overdose deaths.

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Researchers at WashU Medicine and Stanford University developed a compound that relieves pain in mice but doesn't affect the brain, thereby avoiding mind-altering side effects and abuse potential. The custom-designed molecule, derived from cannabis, may provide an alternative to opioids for treating chronic pain.

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Neuroscience grads studied how to make opioids safer

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Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have developed a novel antibody-toxin conjugate (ATC) designed to stimulate immune-mediated eradication of tumors. According to preclinical results published today in Nature Cancer, the new approach combined the benefits of more well-known antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) with those of immunotherapies.

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The combination of prescribed central nervous system stimulants, such as drugs that relieve ADHD symptoms, with prescribed opioid medications is associated with a pattern of escalating opioid intake, a new study has found.

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New study suggests daily users who start in their teens at higher risk of a syndrome that causes vomiting, pain and repeated trips to the hospital.

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A study finds a troubling rise in 'deaths of despair' in the U.S. from 1999 to 2021, using the International Classification of Diseases. These deaths, defined by 19 underlying causes such as chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, suicide, drug overdoses, and alcohol-related conditions, increased two-and-a-half-fold over two decades. By 2021, deaths of despair would have become the fifth leading cause of death in the U.S., surpassing 176,000 fatalities, and ranking just behind heart disease, cancer, COVID-19 and accidents.

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In the face of the alarming number of opioid-related deaths in the U.S., there have been national efforts to increase emergency clinician prescribing of buprenorphine, a medication used to treat opioid use disorder.

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Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have developed a lipid nanoparticle system capable of delivering messenger RNA (mRNA) to the brain via intravenous injection, a challenge that has long been limited by the protective nature of the blood-brain barrier. The findings, in mouse models and isolated human brain tissue, were published in the February 17 online issue of Nature Materials [10.1038/s41563-024-02114-5]. They demonstrate the potential of this technology to pave the way for future treatments for a wide range of conditions such as Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, brain cancer, and drug addiction.

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The Rutgers Center for Recovery and Wellbeing, in Plainfield, N.J., opens to provide hope for New Jerseyans trying to escape the cycle of substance use disorders.