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23 November 2007 | By
Alteration of microRNA (miRNA) expression in a disease compared to a healthy state and/or correlation of miRNA expression with clinical parameters (like disease progression or therapy response), may indicate that miRNAs can serve as clinically relevant biomarkers1-3. An important first step for further functional characterisation is the information about differential…
23 November 2007 | By
A round table discussion covering the driving forces behind the integration of automated technology within the pharmaceutical industry, the procedures that are followed when implementing new automated techniques, current areas of drug discovery most benefiting from lab automation, how lab automation advanced the drug discovery marketplace over the last five…
23 November 2007 | By
High Content Screening (HCS) is becoming increasingly utilised as an early drug-discovery and basic research tool for defining the functions of genes, proteins and other biomolecules in normal and abnormal cellular functions. HCS involves the integration of a number of preparation steps which include; cell-sample preparation, fluorescent labelling, image acquisition,…
23 November 2007 | By
The determination of accurate thermodynamic data for the interactions of biomolecules has been enhanced over the last decade by the use of isothermal titration calorimetric (ITC) instrumentation. These instruments are now standard kits in many biophysical/structural biochemistry laboratories of pharmaceutical companies. Despite this, there is little evidence for the input…
23 November 2007 | By
In order to meet the challenges demanded by the requirements of Process Analytical Technology (PAT), the modern microbiological laboratory needs to become more innovative in microbial detection, identification and enumeration. Technology is becoming available that will speed up microbiological analysis, potentially allowing pharmaceutical microbiology tests to get as close as…
23 November 2007 | By Steve Simmons, Head of Process Knowledge QbD, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals
ASTM Committee E55 formed in April of 2003 as a result of FDA’s GMPs for the 21st Century Initiative and the subsequent Guidance, “PAT – a framework for innovative pharmaceutical manufacturing and quality assurance.” Focusing on process understanding and flexible manufacturing, FDA encouraged the pharmaceutical industry to utilise the consensus…
23 November 2007 | By
Proper and compliant HVAC systems are fundamental to the pharma industry as we use high air change rates to secure a low viable and particle contamination. HVAC is energy consuming and therefore the HVAC accounts for a large proportion of the energy used in pharma facilities. In the past the…
For many years Applied Biosystems has continued to provide robust, reliable tools to analyse DNA and RNA, small molecules, and proteins, in order to make scientific discoveries, develop new pharmaceuticals and conduct standardised testing. Applied Biosystems has developed and introduced dozens of technologies that have catalysed the genomic and proteomics…
21 September 2007 | By Eric A. Miska, The Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute and Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Over the last ten years a small RNA revolution has swept biology. In 1998 RNA interference (RNAi) was discovered as an experimental tool by Andy Fire and Craig Mello, a finding that was awarded with the 2006 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Although the biology of RNAi is still…
21 September 2007 | By Walter Kolch, The Beatson Institute for Cancer Research/ Institute for Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow
Within a decade proteomics has evolved from a fledgling discipline reserved for specialised laboratories, to a firm fixture in our standard omics arsenal used routinely by the research community. This stunning progress is due to many factors; the finishing of the genome projects provided major intellectual motivation and the development…
21 September 2007 | By Edward Ainscow, Research Scientist, AstraZeneca
One of the chief incentives for the use of high content screening (HCS) approaches is the data rich return one gets from an individual assay. However, conventional methods for hit selection and activity determination are not well suited to handling multi-parametric data. Tools borrowed from the genomics area have been…
21 September 2007 | By Paul J Groot-Kormelink PhD, Pamela R Tranter PhD and Martin Gosling PhD, Novartis
The widespread expression of ion channels and their ability to significantly modulate cell function makes them attractive drug targets1. Therapeutic agents which target ion channel proteins comprise the third best selling class of prescription drugs with US sales in 2002 estimated at $12 billion. Somewhat surprisingly the discovery of many…
21 September 2007 | By Stephen A. Bustin, Academic Department of Surgery, Institute of Cell and Molecular Science, Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of London
The real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) has become the enabling technology par excellence in every field of molecular research and development, including that of clinical drug development and discovery. Its ability to detect as well as quantify RNA biomarkers sensitively, specifically and speedily has made it an indispensable…
21 September 2007 | By Karen Rossington, Marketing and Development Manager, Shield Medicare Ltd.
The manufacture of sterile pharmaceutical products is governed in the European Union by the requirements of EU Good Manufacturing Practice for Medicinal Products. The GMP guide gives very specific details on the environmental and microbial requirements for aseptic processing. However, little or no guidance is given on how to create…
21 September 2007 | By Timothy Allison & Sanjeev Munshi, Department of Structural Biology, Merck, Westpoint, PA
Protein crystallography is an integral component of the structure-guided drug discovery process. Rapid access to structural information about drug targets as well as bound ligands has been pivotal in accelerating lead identification and optimisation processes...
