NEWS
Press Release
February 1, 2024
Luciole Pharmaceuticals Awarded SBIR Matching Grant from Business Oregon
Sherborn, MA and Portland, OR - (February 1,2024) – Luciole Pharmaceuticals announced today the award of an SBIR Matching Grant from Business Oregon. This grant will supplement our recent SBIR Phase I grant from the National Institute on Aging and support the discovery and development of novel OGG1 (8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase) allosteric activators to enhance the repair of oxidatively damaged mitochondrial DNA, a key early event in the development of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases. OGG1 is the key enzyme in the initiation of base excision repair of oxidative damage of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Oxidative mtDNA damage is an important, early initiator of mitochondrial dysfunction, loss of energy production and inflammation which leads to neuronal cell death.
“Luciole is very pleased to have been awarded this grant from Business Oregon. Luciole aims to be the premier mtDNA repair company, utilizing an efficient, virtual company approach for the development of novel medicines. This award provides further validation of Luciole’s unique therapeutic approach towards the treatment of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases"- Dennis I. Goldberg, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer at Luciole Pharmaceuticals.
Press Release
September 25, 2023
Luciole Pharmaceuticals Awarded Phase I SBIR Grant from the National Institute on Aging
Sherborn, MA and Portland, OR - (September 25, 2023) – Luciole Pharmaceuticals announced today the award of a $500,000 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant will fund the discovery and development of small molecule activators of OGG1 (8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase) for the treatment of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. OGG1 is the key enzyme in the initiation of base excision repair of oxidative damage of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Oxidative mtDNA damage is an important, early initiator of mitochondrial dysfunction, loss of energy production and inflammation which leads to neuronal cell death.
“Luciole aims to be the premier mtDNA repair company, utilizing an efficient, virtual company approach for the development of novel medicines. This award provides an important validation of Luciole’s unique therapeutic approach towards the treatment of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases"- Dennis I. Goldberg, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer at Luciole Pharmaceuticals.
July 20, 2022
William Haseltine cites new research highlighting the importance of oxidative DNA damage and OGG1 in Alzheimer's disease.
Study Uncovers A New Way To Think About Alzheimer’s Disease
Cells throughout the body naturally accumulate DNA mutations as we age. With Alzheimer’s disease, mutations occur in brain cells at a much faster rate than normal. Thanks to a recent study from researchers at Brigham Women’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital we may be one step closer to understanding why this happens.
Somatic genomic changes in single Alzheimer’s disease neurons.
Miller et al. Nature 604, 714–722 (2022)
Press Release
June 21, 2022
PHYSICIAN AND SCIENTIST, CLIFFORD STEER, JOINS LUCIOLE PHARMACEUTICALS’ SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD
Natick, MA – June _, 2022 - Luciole Pharmaceuticals, Inc is pleased to announce that Clifford Steer, MD, is joining the company’s scientific advisory board.
Dr. Steer, is Professor of Medicine and Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development at the University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN. He is a member of the Stem Cell Institute, Masonic Cancer Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine and the Lillehei Heart Institute.
Dr. Steer has been active in the field of liver research for more than four decades. In that capacity, he has been a long-standing member of several National Institutes of Health Study Sections. He was co-editor of a major scientific journal in liver diseases (Hepatology), past editorial board member of Liver Transplantation and Genetic Vaccines and Therapy, and presently serves on the editorial boards of Hepatic Medicine and Genes.
He was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 1991 and in 2014 was made an inaugural Fellow of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.
“Dr. Steer’s research on the mitochondrial stabilization role of ursodeoxycholic and the subsequent prevention of apoptosis, along with his expertise in liver disease, provides an ideal combination of clinical and basic research interests and experience to support Luciole’s goals of developing novel therapeutics targeting mitochondrial DNA in obesity, metabolic syndrome and fatty liver disease. We are very excited to have him join us on our mission” said Dennis I. Goldberg, Ph.D., President and CEO of Luciole Pharmaceuticals.
Press Release
January 24, 2022
Luciole Pharmaceuticals, OHSU Announce Sponsored Research Agreement to Accelerate Discovery of Novel Medicines
NATICK, Mass. and PORTLAND, Jan. 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Luciole Pharmaceuticals and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), announced today a research agreement aimed at accelerating the discovery of small molecule agonists of OGG1 (8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase). OGG1 is the key enzyme in the initiation of base excision repair of oxidative damage in nuclear and mitochondrial genomes. Through this collaboration, Luciole will support research at OHSU to test compounds identified using Cyclica's AI enabled platform directed at OGG1 for the treatment of neurodegenerative and other diseases of aging.
"Luciole aims to be the premier DNA repair company by applying state-of-the-art technology with an efficient, virtual company approach for the development of novel medicines. We are pleased to support continuing research in the Lloyd/McCullough laboratories at OHSU to test OGG1 activity of new compounds arising from our collaboration with Cyclica. Luciole is using Cyclica's first in class polypharmacology and AI enabled platform to efficiently identify new molecules with disease modifying potential. The research program at OHSU will provide important new data and advance our drug discovery program"— Dennis I. Goldberg, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer at Luciole Pharmaceuticals.
Press Release
December 13, 2021
Physician and Scientist, Serge Przedborski, Joins Luciole Pharmaceuticals' Science Advisory Board
NATICK, Mass., Dec. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Luciole Pharmaceuticals, Inc is pleased to announce that Serge Przedborski, MD, Ph.D., is joining the company's scientific advisory board.
Dr. Przedborski, is the Page and William Black Professor of Neurology (in Pathology and Cell Biology and Neuroscience) at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and:
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Co-Director, Motor Neuron Center
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Vice Chair of Research, Department of Neurology
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Director, Columbia Translational Neuroscience Initiative (CTNI)
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Chief, Division of Movement Disorders
"Dr. Przedborski has the ideal combination of clinical and basic research interests and experience to support Luciole's goals of developing novel therapeutics targeting mitochondrial DNA to prevent the progression of devastating neurodegenerative diseases, like PD. We are very excited to have him join us on our mission" said Dennis I. Goldberg, Ph.D., President and CEO of Luciole Pharmaceuticals.
Press Release
October 6, 2021
Luciole Pharmaceuticals and Cyclica Announce Research Collaboration to Accelerate Discovery of Novel Medicines
Natick, MA & Toronto, Canada - (October 06, 2021) – Luciole Pharmaceuticals, a startup company focused on the discovery and development of small molecules that enhance the repair of oxidative damage to mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), and Cyclica , the partner of choice for data-driven drug discovery, today announced a research collaboration aimed at accelerating the discovery of small molecule agonists of OGG1 (8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase), the key enzyme in initiation of base excision repair (BER) of both nuclear and mtDNA. Luciole will use Cyclica’s platform to screen, identify, design and evaluate compounds directed at OGG1 for the treatment of neurodegenerative and other diseases of aging.
