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Lab-on-a-chip cell culture for metabolomics
Lab-on-a-chip cell culture for metabolomics

Detection of microorganisms using micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS)

13 December 2011 | By Michael J. Miller, President, Microbiology Consultants

This is the sixth and final article in our series on Rapid Microbiological Methods (RMMs) that have appeared in European Pharmaceutical Review during 2011. In our last article, we reviewed the world of nucleic acid amplification technologies, including PCR-DNA amplification, RNA-based reverse-transcriptase amplification, 16S rRNA typing and gene sequencing for…

Drug discovery leaders roundtable

13 December 2011 | By Andrew A. Parsons, Vice President Preclinical Drug Development, GlaxoSmithKline and Steve Street, Vice President, Head of Research Centres of Emphasis, Head of WRD Continuous Improvement, Pfizer and William Strohl, Vice President of Biologics Research, Centocor R&D, a division of Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development and Eckhard von Keutz, Senior Vice President, Head Global Early Development, Bayer HealthCare

External economic pressures have been identified as the major driver for the pharmaceutical outsourcing market. Over and above the fiscal advantages of adopting this strategy, what other benefits and indeed risks do you see associated with this approach? Steve Street: We definitely began our out - sourcing efforts based on…

RedHill Biopharma has last patient visit in phase IIa study with RHB-104 for multiple sclerosis
RedHill Biopharma has last patient visit in phase IIa study with RHB-104 for multiple sclerosis

Discovery and validation of biomarkers for multiple sclerosis

13 December 2011 | By Ole Pless and Sheraz Gul, European ScreeningPort GmbH

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease leading to a chronic inflammation and degeneration of the central nervous system. It is one of the major neurological diseases with approximately 2.5 million suffering patients worldwide. Until now, the underlying mechanisms have not been fully elucidated, but the cause of the disease…

FIGURE 1 Schematic overview of a typical homology modelling procedure that is used to build threedimensional coordinates for a protein of unknown structure
FIGURE 1 Schematic overview of a typical homology modelling procedure that is used to build threedimensional coordinates for a protein of unknown structure

Status and challenges in structure-based drug discovery for G protein-coupled receptors

13 December 2011 | By Henri Xhaard, Head of Computational Drug Discovery Group, Centre for Drug Research, University of Helsinki

The central location of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) at the interface between the interior and exterior of cells, as well as their key role in signalling events, make GPCRs a prominent class of pharmaceutical targets. To date, approximately 40 per cent of known drugs are thought to act on GPCRs…

Drug discovery assays for the histone deacetylase class of enzymes
Drug discovery assays for the histone deacetylase class of enzymes

Implementing electronic laboratory notebooks to improve the efficiency of pre-clinical drug discovery

13 December 2011 | By Sheraz Gul, Vice President and Head of Biology, European ScreeningPort GmbH

The pre-clinical phase of drug discovery spans a period in the region of five years and requires contributions from multi-disciplinary teams often working at different sites. These teams can generate significant amounts of data which are processed using standard as well as specialist software. The recording of a substantial amount…

FIGURE 1miRNAs can impact viral infection directly by interacting with viral genes or indirectly by regulating host genes that play a role in the infection. miRNAs are derived from transcripts that contain stem-loop structures which get recognised and processed by a series of enzymes to generate the short (~22 nt) duplex RNA. One strand of the duplex is preferentially incorporated into the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) and guides this complex to mRNAs or other viral elements that contain regions of complementarity to the miRNA
FIGURE 1miRNAs can impact viral infection directly by interacting with viral genes or indirectly by regulating host genes that play a role in the infection. miRNAs are derived from transcripts that contain stem-loop structures which get recognised and processed by a series of enzymes to generate the short (~22 nt) duplex RNA. One strand of the duplex is preferentially incorporated into the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) and guides this complex to mRNAs or other viral elements that contain regions of complementarity to the miRNA

microRNA manipulation as a host-targeted antiviral therapeutic strategy

13 December 2011 | By Nouf N. Laqtom, University of Edinburgh & King Abdulaziz University and Amy H. Buck, University of Edinburgh

microRNAs (miRNA) are a class of non-coding RNA that regulate the precise amounts of proteins expressed in a cell at a given time. These molecules were discovered in worms in 1993 and only known to exist in humans in the last decade. Despite the youth of the miRNA field, miRNA…

Jadenu
Jadenu

Expression profiling of circulating miRNAs as a novel non-invasive diagnostic tool

13 December 2011 | By Mirco Castoldi. Department of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology University of Heidelberg

Cell-free nucleic acids circulating in human blood were first described in 19481. However, it was not until the work of Sorengon and colleagues was published in 19942 that the importance of circulating nucleic acid (cfNA) was recognised. Today, the detection of diverse type of cfNA3 in blood and other body…

FIGURE 1 The rapid evolution of sequencing technologies. A. First generation Sanger sequencing technology. B. Second ‘Next’ generation massively parallel sequencing technology (454 Sequencing © Roche Diagnostics) C. Third ‘Next-Next’ generation single molecule, real-time sequencing technology. In the coming years, second or third generation technologies may develop to an extent where a human genome can be sequenced for a USD 1,000 in a matter of hours
FIGURE 1 The rapid evolution of sequencing technologies. A. First generation Sanger sequencing technology. B. Second ‘Next’ generation massively parallel sequencing technology (454 Sequencing © Roche Diagnostics) C. Third ‘Next-Next’ generation single molecule, real-time sequencing technology. In the coming years, second or third generation technologies may develop to an extent where a human genome can be sequenced for a USD 1,000 in a matter of hours

DNA sequencing technologies and emerging applications in drug discovery

13 December 2011 | By Nalini A.L. Mehta & David J. Dow, Molecular and Cellular Technologies, Platform Technology and Science, GlaxoSmithKline and Anthony M. Battram, Molecular and Cellular Technologies, Platform Technology and Science, GlaxoSmithKline & Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London

In recent years, the development of Next Generation DNA Sequencing (NGS) technology has significantly impacted molecular biology research, resulting in many new insights and discoveries. NGS technology goes beyond traditional DNA sequencing with applications that reach across the central dogma of molecular biology from DNA to RNA and protein science.…

fig 1 for wen
fig 1 for wen

Spray drying pharmaceuticals

13 December 2011 | By Mingshi Yang, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Copenhagen

Spray drying is a widely used technical method to produce fine particles, coarse powders, agglomerates or granulates in various industries. The characteristics of the particles produced by this method can be controlled and the particle properties can be maintained as constant throughout a continuous operation. The product from this process…

Under the Microscope: Philip Irving, FOSS NIRSystems Inc.

13 December 2011 | By Philip Irving, President, FOSS NIRSystems, Inc.

FOSS NIRSystems, Inc. has a long, complicated and rich history tracing back to 1966 when NEOTEC Corporation was founded. Through a number of acquisitions and mergers, NIRSystems was trademarked in 1989 and bought by Perstorp Analytical, before the company was bought by FOSS in 1997, strengthening the company’s pharmaceutical division.…

Raman supplement 2011
Raman supplement 2011

Raman supplement 2011

24 October 2011 | By

In this Raman supplement: Solid state transformations of APIS during manufacturing by Raman analysis of pharmaceutical molecules and dosage forms; Detection, determination of chemical composition and chemical profiling of counterfeit medicines...

FIGURE 1 siRNA design principles. (A) Highly effective standard siRNAs have a guide strand (in green) with a less thermodynamically stable 5’ than 3’ end (indicated with dashed lines) and position-specific nucleotide preferences (indicated above guide strand). P and OH indicate 5’ phosphate groups and 3’ hydroxyl ends, respectively; blue region indicate seed region. (B) Bi-functional siRNAs targeting a single or (C) two different transcripts. (D) A dual-targeting siRNA where one strand (light green) targets EGFR and the other strand (dark green) targets CCND1
FIGURE 1 siRNA design principles. (A) Highly effective standard siRNAs have a guide strand (in green) with a less thermodynamically stable 5’ than 3’ end (indicated with dashed lines) and position-specific nucleotide preferences (indicated above guide strand). P and OH indicate 5’ phosphate groups and 3’ hydroxyl ends, respectively; blue region indicate seed region. (B) Bi-functional siRNAs targeting a single or (C) two different transcripts. (D) A dual-targeting siRNA where one strand (light green) targets EGFR and the other strand (dark green) targets CCND1

Unconventional RNA interference – recent approaches to robust RNAi

19 October 2011 | By Marie Lundbæk, Department of Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology and Pål Sætrom, Department of Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine & Department of Computer and Information Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

RNA interference (RNAi) is now a standard tool in molecular biology. Short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) for knocking down your favourite human gene are only a couple of mouse-clicks away at your favourite reagent supplier’s website. Moreover, in contrast to initial attempts at siRNA design, these siRNAs usually give potent target…

FIGURE 1 Nested HOX gene expression along the anterior to posterior axis. The expression domains of members of the HOXB group are illustrated, superimposed on the spinal cord of an early vertebrate. The combined expression of HOX genes in defined spatial positions is a key determinate of cell and tissue identity
FIGURE 1 Nested HOX gene expression along the anterior to posterior axis. The expression domains of members of the HOXB group are illustrated, superimposed on the spinal cord of an early vertebrate. The combined expression of HOX genes in defined spatial positions is a key determinate of cell and tissue identity

HOX genes: HOX transcription factors as biomarkers in cancer

19 October 2011 | By Richard Morgan, Postgraduate Medical School, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey

The HOX genes are a family of closely related transcription factors that help to define the identity of cells and tissues during embryonic development and which are also frequently deregulated in cancer, where they have been shown to promote cell survival and proliferation. The high level of cancer-associated HOX expression…