Alexei Korennykh awarded funding from PU's Intellectual Property Accelerator Fund
The IP Accelerator Fund provides support for Princeton discoveries that have the potential to provide solutions to today’s challenges. Awarded each year, the fund pays for additional research or development to make these innovations ready to attract further development by startup companies or other outside entities. One of the winning technologies this year aims to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke through treatments that inhibit the enzyme Nocturnin (pictured).
Obesity and high levels of fat in the blood are two indicators of metabolic syndrome, a constellation of factors that increases risk of heart disease, type II diabetes and stroke.
A collaboration between the research teams of Alexei Korennykh, associate professor of molecular biology, and Joshua Rabinowitz, professor of chemistry and the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, aims to develop a new approach to controlling fat metabolism through the development of drugs that target an enzyme called Nocturnin, which governs tasks such as fat storage and energy usage. Building on discoveries about how Nocturnin regulates cell metabolism, the researchers are exploring small molecules that could become a new class of drugs capable of correcting metabolic syndrome.
With IP Accelerator Funding, the collaborators will develop a high-throughput screening approach to identify inhibitors of Nocturnin.