Genentech plays BACE

Genentech, Inc

How did it start? It began in 1976 with a meeting over a glass of beer between Bob Swanson, then a bright young venture capitalist, and Herb Boyer (UCSF), who with Stan Cohen (Stanford) had just performed some of the key experiments of recombinant DNA technology. The meeting is now immortalized in a brass statue in the new Founders’ Research Center. Genentech was founded later that year, and cl...

Phosphorylation of BACE

Protein lipidation of BACE.

Our research has concentrated upon the protein lipid modification of BACE [beta-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme (beta-secretase)], of which very little is currently known. Lipidation influences the production of Abeta (amyloid beta-protein) by promoting the dimerization of BACE.

Silver Bullet Talks with Becky Bace

B ecky Bace, one of the luminaries of computer security, grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. She spent 12 years at the US National Security Agency (NSA), where her work focused on intrusion detection and cryptography. Currently, Bace is a venture consultant with the venture capital firm Trident Capital in Palo Alto, California. Featured here is an excerpt adapted from the full interview between Bac...

Developing BACE-1 inhibitors for FXS

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is a debilitating genetic disorder with no cure and few therapeutic options. Excessive signaling through metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 in FXS leads to increased translation of numerous synaptic proteins and exaggerated long-term depression. Two of the overexpressed proteins are amyloid-beta protein precursor (APP) and its metabolite amyloid-beta, which have been wel...