Innovative Partnerships in Neglected Disease Research - The Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases By Prof Paul Herrling While the recent biomedical revolution has given rise to significant advances in medical treatment, many neglected diseases that are endemic in underdeveloped parts of the world remain unaddressed. Public-private partnerships like the Novartis… Read More
Ultra-sensitive measurement of protein and nucleic acid biomarkers may enable earlier disease detection and more effective therapies By Dr Gregory Shipp The pharmaceutical industry is striving to develop effective new therapies for diseases, ranging from cancers to cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disorders to a host of metabolic, infectious and genetic conditions,… Read More
Nanotechnology in High Throughput Screening By Dr Bobak Azamian and Flora Tang Nanotechnology has touched many scientific disciplines, from its roots in chemistry and physics to applications in biology and engineering (1). A nanotechnology industry has developed, offering at present a new iteration of established technologies such as composite materials… Read More
The Genome as a Tool for Drug Discovery and Development the Case for Embracing Complexity By Dr Kenneth C. Carter Conventional drug discovery and development is centred on a paradigm in which 'validated' targets are subjected to in vitro screens for the identification of new drug candidates. Molecular profiling using… Read More
Monoclonals - The billion dollar molecules of the future By Dr Martin Wiles and Patrik Andreassen In 1975, two British scientists thought of creating a mouse antibody that could be replicated or 'cloned' to produce identical copies. Identical copies with identical modes of action had the potential to be a… Read More
Zebrafish: a versatile in vivo model for drug safety assessment Dr Wendy Alderton and Dr St phane Berghmans Safety pharmacology has become an integral part of non-clinical safety assessment for new chemical entities in the past two decades (1). The relative novelty of this discipline has granted it the flexibility… Read More
Kinase Inhibitor Screening - Latest technologies and techniques By Dr Richard M. Eglen and Dr Roger Bossé Kinases have become a proven target class for new drugs and have created a thirst for the development of new technology platforms for inhibitor detection. We discuss some of the latest technologies and… Read More
Confocal vs Widefield High Content Imaging By Dr John Comley A variety of new confocal hardware and software solutions have recently become available to support high content imaging. Most of the solutions have in common the potential of rejecting out-of-focus background fluorescence and of improving the signal to noise of… Read More
Stem Cell Patent Trends and The Promise of Stem Cell Therapies By Dr Gareth Williams Stem cell therapies hold great promise for future medical treatment, but in order to realise their potential there must be sufficient investment, private or public, in the technology. A key aspect of obtaining investment in… Read More
The Biomedical Ecosystem Delivering Better Health and Prosperity By Dr Peter B. Corr The overall message is simple: biomedical innovation and the public policies and new technologies that sustain and advance innovation are crucial to the future of biomedical science and the health and well being of our society. In… Read More
Seeing is Believing: The Benefits of Visual Analysis in Research By Dr Christopher Ahlberg There is a growing pressure in todays climate for pharmaceutical companies to find tomorrows wonder drugs and dominate the major market segments. Recently, they have also been under attack for poor research productivity, for failures in… Read More
Medicinal Chemistry: Progress through innovation By Dr Terry Hart Medicinal chemistry is a specialised science that has evolved to encompass a broad range of disciplines concerned with the identification, synthesis and development of drug-like compounds for therapeutic use. It needs a wide range of expertise, developed through years of training,… Read More
Ion Channel Drug Targets: Unlocking the potential By Dr Dayle S. Hogg, Dr Philip Boden, Dr Geoff Lawton and Dr Roland Z. Kozlowski A striking number of drugs targeting ion channels have reached blockbuster status, generating $ billion revenues. In spite of the historical success of ion channels as therapeutic… Read More
Miniaturisation of Assay Development and Screening By Andreas Boettcher and Dr Lorenz M. Mayr In recent years we have seen a strong increase in the number of chemical compounds and molecular targets used for lead discovery by high-throughput screening among most Pharma and Biotech companies. This has caused a strong… Read More
Immunogenicity of Therapeutic Proteins By Dr Ivo Van Walle, Dr Ignace Lasters and Philippe Stas Therapeutic proteins enter the market in increasing numbers, and current observations confirm that most of these biopharmaceuticals are to a variable extent immunogenic. This may compromise the efficacy, safety as well as the target market… Read More
Current Biosensor Technologies in Drug Discovery By Dr Matthew A. Cooper Over the past two decades the benefits of biosensor analysis have begun to make an impact in the market, and systems are beginning to be used as mainstream research tools in many laboratories. Biosensors are devices that use biological… Read More
