The identification of new targets in diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s – conditions which continue to have significant unmet needs – has taken a small step forward as one company, Violet Therapeutics Inc., plans to put $10.6 million in seed funding toward building out a pipeline based on technologies that elucidate the way cells interact amongst one another.

Researchers from Stanford University and affiliated organizations have provided details on the discovery and preclinical evaluation of [11C]MGX-10S, a novel PET tracer for GPR84, which is a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) expressed predominately on myeloid cells.

Investigators from Cerevance Inc. have reported the discovery and preclinical characterization of a novel tandem pore domain halothane-inhibited K+ channel 1 (THIK-1) inhibitor, C-101248, being developed for the treatment of neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). NETSseq and histological analysis revealed that THIK-1 expression was up-regulated in microglia from different cortical regions of AD donors compared with aged matched nondemented control brains.