New model better simulates chemical interactions, may improve drug development: Study

Researchers have developed a new model which simulates the effects of key factors controlling the interactions between complex molecules, an advance that may lead to the development of novel therapies for diseases like cancer, HIV, and autoimmune diseases.

The study, published in the journal PNAS, looked at three main parameters playing a role in the interactions between molecules -- binding strength of each of the chemical's site, rigidity of the linkages between sites, and the size of the linkage arrays.

As part of the study, the researchers, including those from the University of Minnesota in the US, assessed how these three parameters can be "dialed up", or "dialed down" to control how molecule chains with two or three binding sites interact with each other.

"The big advance with this study is that usually researchers use a trial-and-error experimental method in the lab for studying these kinds of molecular interactions, but here we developed a mathematical model where we know the