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Drug delivery

 

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Label-free quantitative proteomics: Why has it taken so long to become a mainstream approach?

13 June 2013 | By Thierry Le Bihan, SynthSys and Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, University of Edinburgh

In recent years, mass spectrometry (MS) based proteomics has moved from being a qualitative tool (used to mainly identify proteins) to a more reliable analysis tool, allowing relative quantitation as well as absolute quantitation of a large number of proteins. However, the developed quantitative methods are either specific for certain…

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Putting the ‘fun’ into functional genomics: a review of RNAi genomewide cellular screens

18 December 2012 | By Dr. Stephen Brown, Sheffield RNAi Screening Facility, Biomedical Sciences, University of Sheffield

As RNA interference (RNAi) enters its teenage years from the first critical observations, it has now reached a multi-billion pound industry. There are few research areas that have expanded as quickly and spectacularly as the field of RNAi. The potential of RNAi initially sparked a functional genomics gold rush. Different…

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RNA quality matters

18 December 2012 | By Mikael Kubista, Jens Björkman, David Svec and Robert Sjöback, TATAA Biocenter

RNA levels can be measured with very high specificity, sensitivity and accuracy with techniques such as real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR), microarray analysis and next generation sequencing. This makes messenger (m) RNAs and potentially microRNAs and other non-coding RNAs popular as biomarkers. But RNA is less stable and more dynamic than…

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Applications of MRI to controlled drug delivery devices

22 October 2012 | By Mick Mantle, Department of Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology, University of Cambridge

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a technique that is traditionally used as a diagnostic clinical imaging tool. However, there are now an increasing number of non-medial applications where MRI has seen unrivalled success. One of those areas is in its application to pharmaceutical research. The aim of this article is…

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G protein coupled receptors – exploiting flexible conformations

3 September 2012 | By Kathryn L. Chapman, Imperial Drug Discovery Centre, Imperial College London and John B.C. Findlay & Gemma K. Kinsella, Department of Biology, National University of Ireland Maynooth

G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are a diverse super-family of proteins located within the plasma membrane of eukaryotic cells which have a common architecture consisting of seven-transmembrane (7-TM) segments, connected by extracellular (ECL) and intracellular (ICL) loops. They differ from other 7-TM proteins in their ability to activate guanine-nucleotide binding proteins…

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Discovery and validation of protein biomarkers

10 July 2012 | By Péter Horvatovich & Rainer Bischoff, Analytical Biochemistry, Department of Pharmacy, University of Groningen

Biomarkers are biological characteristics that are objectively measured and evaluated as indicators of normal biological processes, pathogenic processes or pharmacological responses to a therapeutic intervention. Biomarkers can be used to determine disease onset, progression, efficacy of drug treatment, patient susceptibility to develop a certain type of disease or predict efficacy…

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Ten years of siRNA – a clinical overview

10 July 2012 | By Katharina Bruno, Principal Scientist, Technical Research & Development (TRD), Novartis Pharma AG

In 2001, small interfering RNA (siRNA) was discovered as the mediator of RNA interference (RNAi), a transient and specific repression mechanism of protein expression1. After the pharmaceutical industry became aware of the intrinsic versatility and potential of this molecule, a race to develop the first siRNA based drug began. However,…

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The need for proteomic-based biomarkers in the drug development pipeline

10 July 2012 | By Paul C. Guest, Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge and Sabine Bahn Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge & Department of Neuroscience, Erasmus Medical Centre

Pharmaceutical companies are under increasing pressure to improve their efficiency and returns on drug discovery projects. This is a daunting task considering that the average drug costs approximately one billion US dollars to develop and takes around 12 years from initial discovery to reach the market1. In addition, approximately 70…

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GPCR screening and drug discovery: Challenges and latest trends

26 April 2012 | By Sofia M.A. Martins, João R.C. Trabuco, Gabriel A. Monteiro and Duarte Miguel Prazeres, Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Technical University of Lisbon

G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are one of the most popular drug targets today. Almost one third of the approved drugs currently available rely on some kind of interaction with these receptors. The annual revenues are around USD 30 billion (109) and the fact that one quarter of the top US…

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Targeted therapy in metastatic melanoma

28 February 2012 | By Janina Staub and Jochen Utikal, Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, University Medical Center Mannheim, University of Heidelberg & Skin Cancer Unit, German Cancer Research Center

During the last few years, significant improvements in the treatment of metastatic melanoma were reported, targeting molecules involved in the pathogenesis of melanoma. Different clinical trials were able to prove a prolonged overall survival by introducing new therapeutic agents. Hereby an imunomodulating therapy with the anti-CTLA-4 antibody ipilimumab has been…