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20 July 2006 | By Claire Townsend, Ph.D., Investigator, GlaxoSmithKline
As a classically trained electrophysiologist, I shall always remember my first encounter with automated patch clamp at Essen Instruments in June 2002. Essen Instruments had just developed the IonWorks HT, an instrument that can record currents from 48 cells simultaneously and perform up to 384 recordings with a drug addition…
20 July 2006 | By Jean-Marie Geoffroy, Ph.D., Director, Pharmaceutical Development, TAP Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
So far in 2006 we have published contributions on a variety of PAT-related topics, including training (Issue 1), NIR (Issue 2) and the role of PAT in biotechnology (Issue 3). In this article Jean-Marie Geoffroy reports on the business case for PAT with his own interpretation and charts the road…
20 July 2006 | By Frank von Delft, Principle Investigator, Protein Crystallography Group, Structural Genomics Consortium, University of Oxford
The Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) is an internationally funded collaboration with sites in three countries and a three-year goal of solving the 3-dimensional structures of more than 380 human proteins with particular medical relevance, and placing them in the public domain without restrictions. The structures should prove an invaluable resource…
20 July 2006 | By Dr Jan Hauss, Laboratory Manager, Merck KGaA
Today, electronic support for scientific research from the bench to the product is reality. For many years there has been an organic growth of different electronic systems in various areas of industry. The current challenge is to combine these electronic islands to form solid ground for integrated cost efficient systems.…
20 July 2006 | By Tim Lloyd, Editor, European Pharmaceutical Review
Rapid microbiology is an exciting field for the development of new technologies and applications. There are significant challenges to be overcome and in doing so, great prospects for microbiologists and the companies that provide cutting-edge equipment.
20 July 2006 | By Howard Smith, Technical and Commercial Manager, Cambridge Biostability
Ninety per cent of the world’s medical research funding is being spent on just ten per cent of the world’s health problems, mostly those afflicting the residents of wealthy countries.
20 July 2006 | By Prof. P. A. Barnes, School of Applied Sciences, Prof. E. L. Charsley, Head of the Centre for Thermal Studies and Dr G. M. B. Parkes, Senior Lecturer in Analytical Science, University of Huddersfield
The determination of the key physical and chemical properties of a new material is essential. The melting point, glass transition temperature, the number and identification of the different phases it may have, and the temperatures at which they are formed are all of great value, not only in assessing its…
23 May 2006 | By Walter Kolch, University of Glasgow & Beatson Institute for Cancer Research
In the last decade proteomics has revolutionised biology and now biology starts revolutionising proteomics.
23 May 2006 | By Ina Poser, Project Leader and Frank Buchholz Group Leader, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology
Large DNA-sequencing projects such as the Human Genome Project have provided the scientific community with a new challenge: to try to understand the information encoded in the primary sequence of the genome. Studies investigating the role and function of the components of the genome are often called functional genomics.
23 May 2006 | By Susann Schenk, Center for Experimental Bioinformatics (CEBI) and Gary J. Schoenhals, Bioinformatics, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology University of Southern Denmark
The human blood plasma harbors treasure, which, like most treasures, is not easily attained, and finding it requires ingenuity, endurance and possibly a grain of luck. The blood plasma is the largest (most proteins) and deepest (widest dynamic range) of the human proteomes. In order to ‘triumph over’ it, it…
23 May 2006 | By Aidas Kriauciunas and William Roell, Department of Integrative Biology, Shaoyou Chu, Karen Cox and Jonathan A. Lee, Department of Lead Generation Biology and Lead Optimization Biology, Ann Goodspeed, Discovery Informatics, Louis Stancato, Cancer Growth and Translational Genetics, Mark Uhlik, Tumor Microenvironment Biology, Lilly Research Laboratory, Eli Lilly and Company
Advances in optical imaging methods, personal computer power and cell/molecular biology methodology have merged to form the field of ‘Cellomics’1 also referred to as High Content Cellular Imaging (HCCI). HCCI is a powerful and flexible cell-based assay platform that has the potential to shorten cycle times by broadly impacting the…
23 May 2006 | By Dominique Perrin, Alexander Scheer and Timothy N.C. Wells, Serono Pharmaceutical Research Institute
There has been a sea change in the way many biotech and pharma companies view the search for new drugs in neglected disease. Serono is a biotech company, with interests in neurology, reproductive health, oncology and dermatology – but we teamed up with the World Health Organization (WHO) to train…
23 May 2006 | By Collette S. DeChard, Manager Compound Management Group, Fredric J. Solomon, Senior Automation Project Engineer, Robert Donnenberg Lead Application Services, Merck & Co., Inc.
In the mid-1990s, HTS labs were equipped with high-end automation for screening tens of thousands of compounds while compound management labs continued to manually pick samples and invest in standalone equipment...
23 May 2006 | By EPR
Protein crystallography has a key role to play in a project that is making a significant contribution to understanding human diseases. The Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) has already achieved one landmark, and looks set to continue in a similar vein. Tim Lloyd spoke with Alexey Bochkarev Ph.D., Principal Investigator, Crystallography,…
23 May 2006 | By Carl-Fredrik Mandenius, Linköping University, Sweden, Member of the European Federation for Pharmaceutical Sciences PAT Steering Group
Product quality of pharmaceuticals manufactured in biotechnology processes is to a large extent synonymous with the reduction and control of unwanted biological side-products. Production of biopharmaceutical proteins and secondary metabolites such as antibiotics are the result of biosynthetic capacity of the microbes or cells used. But this capacity may also…
