An insightful article in WIRED Greece is exploring a different way of thinking about drug discovery for protein misfolding diseases.
Instead of simply blocking or eliminating a problematic protein, the idea is to change its behavior to shift it away from harmful structures and towards more functional ones.

What makes this approach particularly interesting is the use of living cells as discovery platforms. Rather than asking only whether a molecule binds to a protein, the researchers ask a more fundamental question: Does it actually work in a biological system?
The work of Georgios Skretas and his team combines protein engineering, functional drug discovery, cyclic peptides and AI-driven screening to explore this challenging space, with applications including neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and ALS.
Of course, discovering a promising molecule is only the beginning.

Turning it into a safe and effective medicine remains an enormous challenge.
Still, the underlying idea is fascinating:
What if, instead of destroying a dysfunctional protein, we could change its fate?
A thought-provoking read on the future of drug discovery and protein misfolding diseases.

Read the full article here in Greek