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Issue 4 2005

Applications in target ID and validation

Issue 4 2005 / 11 November 2005 / Oliver C. Steinbach, Head of Department, Technology Management, ALTANA Pharma AG

RNAi technology provides the ‘loss of function’ approach, which has been widely used in the last couple of years for analysis of gene function, and in drug discovery for identification and validation of potential drug target candidates. This technology is now widely applied for functional screens in order to identify disease associated signals and targets whose specific inhibition could potentially result in a curative effect for treatment of complex human diseases. The focus of such screens is evolving more towards druggable gene families rather than genome wide approaches – the latter being expensive, complex and sometimes confusing.

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Meeting the challenge with a new facility

Issue 4 2005 / 11 November 2005 / EPR

The conclusion of the Genome Sequencing Project – far from providing the solution to the problem of human disease – has created further questions that had not previously been considered. Hence, the age of genomics has initiated the need to examine the body’s real biochemical actors: proteins, to learn about their role in human health and disease.

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Options for quantitative analysis by real-time PCR

Issue 4 2005 / 11 November 2005 / Gareth Elvidge, PhD, Genomics Group, Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford

The expansion of microarray-based gene expression studies has led to an increase in demand for gene-specific PCR-based methods for independent validation of results. Although a number of technologies are available to meet this requirement the most popular is currently real-time PCR.

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A new approach to ion channel hit identification

Issue 4 2005 / 11 November 2005 / Martin J. Main, Karen Jones, Biological Chemistry, AstraZeneca R&D, UK, Mats A. Svensson, Dirk Weigelt and Markus Haeberlein, Chemistry, AstraZeneca R&D, Sweden

Advances in assay technology are driving an exciting new era in ion channel drug discovery. Here, we present a case study describing the use of computational chemistry and focussed library screening to drive rapid hit identification.

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A bright future for drug discovery and development

Issue 4 2005 / 11 November 2005 / Dr Frank Straube, Biomarker Expert, Novartis Pharma AG

High content imaging (HCI), the combination of automated fluorescence microscopy with quantitative image analysis, has been opening new dimensions in cytometry. This article gives an overview on the growing spectrum of applications and an outlook on the future use of this still rapidly developing technology.

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Mass Spectrometry: another tool from the PAT toolbox

Issue 4 2005 / 11 November 2005 / Steve Doherty and Aaron Garrett, Manufacturing Science and Technology, Mark LaPack, Process Research and Development, Eli Lilly and Co.

Optical techniques can not address every application need, so the well-equipped PAT toolbox must include a broad array of technologies. One analytical tool that has been less-published but no less useful than the optical methods is mass spectrometry. This article provides a brief review of some of the published uses of process mass spectrometry, and provides some specific examples from the authors’ labs that demonstrate the value and utility of this technique.

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Applications in bioprocesses and biotechnology

Issue 4 2005 / 11 November 2005 / Royston Goodacre and Roger M. Jarvis, School of Chemistry, The University of Manchester

Raman spectroscopy is a highly versatile tool that provides chemical fingerprints from biological material that can be interpreted using chemometrics and machine learning. In combination this powerful approach is being developed for the quantitative determination of multiple determinands in bioprocesses and for the characterisation of microorganisms.

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Why is thermal analysis important to the industry?

Issue 4 2005 / 11 November 2005 / Dr Paul G. Royall, Lecturer in Pharmaceutics, School of Chemical Sciences & Pharmacy University of East Anglia, See-wah Jai Tang, Pharmaceutical Science Research Division, King’s College London

Thermal analysis equipment can be found in nearly all of the analytical, development, formulation and QA laboratories within the pharmaceutical industry. However, these work horse instruments are learning to run faster and to analyse an ever more varied field of samples.

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The current state of PAT in freeze drying

Issue 4 2005 / 11 November 2005 / Michael Wiggenhorn, Gerhard Winter, Department of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmaceutics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University and Ingo Presser, Boehringer Ingelheim

Freeze drying is a widely used method to stabilise protein pharmaceuticals. The stability of proteins and the biological activity can be influenced by several factors, which may lead to conformational changes and to denaturation, aggregation or absorption to surfaces1.

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Microbial detection in mammalian cell culture systems

Issue 4 2005 / 11 November 2005 / Amy McDaniel, Ph.D., QC Manager, Microbial Science & Technology, Wyeth Biotech

Timely results for microbial bioburden monitoring of in-process cell culture samples are critical to the production process for recombinant proteins and other biopharmaceutical products.

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