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2 February 2006 | By Anthony M. Cundell, Ph.D. Consulting Microbiologist
Since the 2000 publication of the PDA Technical Report Number 33 Testing Methods, rapid microbial methods (RMM) have not lived up to their promise for changing routine Quality Control microbiological testing in the pharmaceutical industry. With the next generation of rapid microbial methods emerging from the R&D laboratories of instrument…
2 February 2006 | By Holly Hilton, Ph.D. and Charu Kanwal Ph.D. Research Informatics, Genetics and Genomics Hoffmann La-Roche Inc.
Quantitative real-time PCR, the workhorse of any genomics lab, is a well established technique that has numerous uses due to its simplicity and flexibility. In this article we will review a brief history of real time PCR, discuss our strategy for optimising a lab running Quantitative-RT-PCR and describe how this…
2 February 2006 | By Anders Grahnén, Ph.D.,Professor of Clinical Drug Development Sciences, Uppsala University; Chief Scientific Officer, Quintiles Nordic Region
Utilising man as a species for candidate drug selection is per se not a new concept, but the development of new technologies have made it possible to be realised in practice.
11 November 2005 | By 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…
11 November 2005 | By 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…
11 November 2005 | By 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.
11 November 2005 | By 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.
11 November 2005 | By 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.
11 November 2005 | By 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…
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.
11 November 2005 | By 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.
11 November 2005 | By 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.
11 November 2005 | By 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.
22 August 2005 | By Craig S. Mickanin, Research Investigator and Mark A. Labow, Executive Director, Genomic and Proteomic Sciences, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research
Perhaps the most significant technological advancement in the study of gene function in the post-genome era has been the discovery that RNA interference (RNAi) can be exploited for depletion of endogenous mRNA in mammalian cells. As the pharmaceutical industry has fallen under intense pressure to both identify and validate high-quality…
22 August 2005 | By Dr Graham R Betton, Senior Principal Scientist, Safety Assessment, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals
This article reviews the types of biomarkers currently available and approaches to discovering new biomarkers.
