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Automation in the Pharmaceutical Industry
Automation in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Trends in laboratory automation: From speed and simplicity to flexibility and information content

24 June 2010 | By Fernando A. Ramon Olayo, Manager, GlaxoSmithKline

The pharmaceutical industry has significantly influenced laboratory automation trends in the past two decades. The need to screen large collections of chemical entities in a short time with minimised consumption of reagents has driven a strong demand of parallelisation, automation, simplification and miniaturisation solutions from the suppliers of instruments, labware…

Figure 1 Cell undergoing senescence. Cell showing characteristics of cellular senescence: binucleated and flat and enlarged morphology
Figure 1 Cell undergoing senescence. Cell showing characteristics of cellular senescence: binucleated and flat and enlarged morphology

Cellular senescence as an anti-tumour mechanism

24 June 2010 | By Amancio Carnero, Scientist, Seville Biomedical Research Institute (IBIS/HUVR), Spanish National Research Council

One of the critical steps in human carcinogenesis is cellular immortalisation, a process in which cells must escape senescence and acquire an infinite lifespan. In the absence of immortalisation, although a cell might undergo malignant transformation, it could not proliferate indefinitely. Furthermore, it has been clearly established in vitro and…

Figure 1 MD simulation model of the opsin-transducin complex in a POPC lipid bilayer. Opsin and transducin are drawn in ribbon format and post-translational modification on opsin and transducin are represented in space-fill style. Opsin is oriented in the bilayer such that helix 4 (H4) is perpendicular to the plane of the bilayer. The extracellular surface is oriented toward the top of the figure.
Figure 1 MD simulation model of the opsin-transducin complex in a POPC lipid bilayer. Opsin and transducin are drawn in ribbon format and post-translational modification on opsin and transducin are represented in space-fill style. Opsin is oriented in the bilayer such that helix 4 (H4) is perpendicular to the plane of the bilayer. The extracellular surface is oriented toward the top of the figure.

Examining receptor activation: New technologies reveal how G protein-coupled receptors recognise ligands and talk to intracellular partners

24 June 2010 | By Thomas P. Sakmar, Laboratory of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, Rockefeller University

Heptahelical G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are arguably the most important single class of pharmaceutical drug targets in the human genome. According to Overington, of the 266 human targets for approved drugs, a remarkable 27 per cent correspond to rhodopsin-like, or Family A, GPCRs. Despite recent dramatic advances in targeting of…

Figure 3
Figure 3

Raman spectroscopy for the analysis of drug products and drug manufacturing processes

9 May 2010 | By Prof. Thomas De Beer, Assistant-Professor, Process Analytical Technology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Ghent

This article aims at supplying a concise overview on the application of Raman spectroscopic analysis methods within the pharmaceutical drug product manufacturing world. Firstly, there will be a focus on the rapid and nondestructive off-line analysis feasibility of Raman spectroscopy for final drug products. Herewith, several possible sources of error…

qPCR: Current technologies and future applications
qPCR: Current technologies and future applications

qPCR: Current technologies and future applications

9 May 2010 | By European Pharmaceutical Review

A diverse and widely applicable laboratory technique, qPCR is vital for the progression of drug discovery, enabling detection and quantification and commonly used for both diagnostic and basic research. This roundtable brings together experts from a wide range of pharmaceutical applications to discuss current technologies and future applications of qPCR…

Implementing chemometrics in late stage development and manufacturing
Implementing chemometrics in late stage development and manufacturing

Article 2: The implementation of rapid microbiological methods

9 May 2010 | By Michael J. Miller, Ph.D., President, Microbiology Consultants, LLC

This is the second in a series of articles on rapid microbiological methods that will appear in European Pharmaceutical Review during 2010. Method validation is the process used to confirm that an analytical procedure employed for a specific test is reliable, reproducible and suitable for its intended purpose. All analytical…

Finding novel targets for anticancer target discovery

9 May 2010 | By Wolfgang Link, Experimental Therapeutics Program, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncologicas (CNIO)

Advances in our understanding of the molecular basis of cancer together with novel approaches to interfere with signal transduction pathways have opened new horizons for anticancer target discovery. In particular, the image based large scale analysis of cellular phenotypes that arise from genetic or chemical perturbations paved the way for…

SBS Biopharmaceuticals Symposium: Exploring synergies across drug formats

9 May 2010 | By EPR

Biopharmaceuticals is a rapidly growing sector of the pharmaceutical industry. Major pharmaceutical companies have recognised this trend in recent years and defined ambitious targets for the proportion of their pipeline that is expected to be filled by novel biopharmaceuticals. It is inevitable that many of the scientists involved with small-molecule…

drug discovery & drug development
drug discovery & drug development

Implementation of appropriate assays and HTS technologies in drug discovery

9 May 2010 | By Sheraz Gul, Vice President, European ScreeningPort GmbH

In this article, an overview regarding advances in assay formats for specific target classes and options that should be considered when considering hardware will be given. There has been a significant growth in the assay and automation technologies that are available for compound screening activities and it is essential to…

The 58th ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics

9 May 2010 | By EPR

The American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) was formed in 1969 to promote and disseminate knowledge of mass spectrometry and allied topics. Membership includes over 7,500 scientists involved in research and development. Members come from academic, industrial and governmental laboratories. Their interests include advancement of techniques and instrumentation in mass…

‘Pharmaceutical Industry / University’ R&D collaboration on Process Analytical Technologies

9 May 2010 | By Professor Nicolas Abatzoglou, Chair, PAT in Pharmaceutical Engineering, Department of Chemical and Biotechnological Engineering, Université de Sherbrooke

Process analytical technologies (PAT) are mature and well advanced in the classical chemical industry. Many successful industry/university R&D collaborations are aimed at the development of analytical methods and their application in process control. However, PAT in the pharmaceutical industry is a rather new field. It is precisely this latter reality…

ISSCR 8th Annual Meeting: International Society for Stem Cell Research

9 May 2010 | By EPR

The ISSCR Annual Meeting offers inspired research, new perspectives and networking with stem cell professionals from around the world. It creates a platform for the exchange of theoretical and applied information and skills, providing delegates with perspective, training and a forum to analyse the latest data.

Figure 1
Figure 1

Turn back the clock and be healed Induced pluripotent stem cells and their future impact on drug discovery and regenerative medicine

9 May 2010 | By Paul D. Andrews, Drug Discovery Unit, College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee

They are only four years old and are getting everyone very excited; they were Science Magazine’s ‘Breakthrough of the Year 2008’ and Nature’s ‘Method of the Year 2009.’ Their discoverer, Shinya Yamanaka, shared the Lasker Award last year and is no doubt touted for a future Nobel Prize. ‘They’ are…

Digital polymerase chain reaction; new diagnostic opportunities

22 February 2010 | By

LGC is an international science-based company located in South West London. A progressive and innovative enterprise, LGC operates in socially responsible fields underpinning the health, safety and security of the public, and regulation and enforcement for UK government departments and blue chip clients. Our products and services enable our customers…

DNA sequencing
DNA sequencing

Applying statistical inference in genomics with evidence based pathways: Towards elucidating new functional correlations of biomarkers

22 February 2010 | By Peter Ghazal, Professor of Molecular Genetics and Biomedicine, University of Edinburgh and Head of Division of Pathway Medicine and Associate Director of Centre for Systems Biology, Edinburgh, Al Ivens, Head of Data Analysis, Fios Genomics Ltd and Thorsten Forster, Statistical Bioinformatician, Division of Pathway Medicine, University of Edinburgh

In conventional pharmacogenomic studies, genetic polymorphisms (including single nucleotide and copy number variations) are elucidated from case-control distribution of individuals usually representing ethnicity, severity of disease, and positive or negative response to treatment. However, the interpretation of a single genetic marker in this context is complicated, as the same marker…