Epigenetic Modulators of Histone Methylation By Dr Michael Thomenius and William P. Janzen Drug Discovery Epigenetics is a term that refers to the durable and context-specific regulation of transcription processes. The majority of epigenetics involves a complex system of enzymes, binding proteins and accessory proteins that control access to the… Read More
Metabolomics - A Playbook for Functional Genomics By Dr David Ferrick If we have learned anything from scientific research in the last 20 years, it is that finding cures to complex diseases is difficult. Despite the promise of the genomic revolution, disease progression and patient outcomes are still not easily… Read More
By Dr John Comley High-content screening (HCS) is a well-established approach for the multiparametric analysis of cellular events. Since its first introduction more than a decade ago, high content imaging systems have continually evolved with many improvements enabled to meet user demands of greater flexibility and the growing requirements of… Read More
With Synthetic Biology, Drug Discovery Is Going Virtual by Christopher Voigt Christopher Voigt is a professor of biological engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where his lab focuses on synthetic biology. Two major areas of interest for him are developing a genetic programming language for cells and applying synthetic… Read More
Full Length Isoform Sequencing (Iso-Seq) Yields a More Comprehensive View of Gene Activity By Luke Hickey RNA-seq has revolutionised how scientists can interrogate gene expression. But after years of performing RNA-seq studies with short-read sequencers, many have realised that there is more to be discovered. Comprehensive transcriptome analysis – an… Read More
By Dr James Lim and Dr Fred Aswad While the use of human cell lines has become a permanent fixture in drug discovery and development, the lingering issue has been in their inconsistent results. This article discusses current attempts to make results from cell culture systems more biologically relevant which,… Read More
Microtissues For In Vitro Toxicity Assessment: Cost effective and in vivo relevant toxicology tools By Dr Stephanie Ravenscroft, Dr Caroline Bauch, Dr Laura Hinton and Dr Paul Walker Conventional two-dimensional (2D) cell models (adherent cells grown on cell culture plates or cells in suspension) are limited in their abilities to… Read More
The Coming Age Of Mass Spectrometry Imaging By Dr Peter J.H. Webborn and Dr Richard J.A. Goodwin Mapping complex drug distribution/retention in tissues, aligned with efficacy and safety biomarker localisation is now possible using label-free mass spectrometry imaging technologies. While there remain challenges to be overcome, these molecular imaging techniques… Read More
Synthetic Lethality and Anti Cancer Drug Discovery By Jonathan D Moore Classically-activated oncogene targets have been a mainstay of cancer drug discovery for the past 15 years, but the druggable targets in this category have been largely mined out. Future efforts to drug the cancer genome must take synthetic lethal… Read More
by Dr John Comley The case for using more physiologically-relevant cells for modelling disease pathophysiology, for understanding a drug’s mechanism of action, in toxicology/safety testing and in phenotypic drug screening assays is now well accepted. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are seen as a resource from which to… Read More
The Role Of Immunodeficient Animal Models In Advancing Immuno-Oncology Research By Dr Michael Seiler From inbred wild-type to more advanced genetically-engineered strains, mouse models enable researchers to gain important insights into the complex biological underpinnings of human cancer. Among those, spontaneous and genetically engineered immunodeficient strains can be administered in… Read More
Digital Pharma - How Digital Is Reshaping The Pharma Arena By Ulrica Sehlstedt, Nils Bohlin, Fredrik de Mare and Richard Beetz The pharmaceutical industry in the 20th and early 21st century has been in constant change, driven by both incremental and breakthrough innovations. These range from the discovery of penicillin… Read More
Drug Discovery in a Multi-Omics World By Mike Furness Collectively rare diseases affect millions of people worldwide, but the number of people with any one condition is very small. Finding a cure is difficult as the market is not large enough to justify a big investment in drug development. This… Read More
Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cells (CAR-T): Looking beyond the hype By Christoph Oldenburg, Dr Markus Thunecke and Dr John Herrmann While Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cells (CAR-T), have already demonstrated convincing efficacy in a specific setting, the jury is still out on whether they are a ‘game-changer’ for oncology as a whole… Read More
Therapeutic Drug Repurposing, Repositioning and Rescue Part IV: Financial model and analysis By David M. Kauppi and Dr Stephen Naylor There is a growing consensus that Drug Repurposing, Repositioning and Rescue (DRPx) impacts all stakeholders involved in the therapeutic drug sector. In part, this is due to the fact that… Read More
Valuation In Pharma Portfolio Management By Dr Michel Azoulay Throughout the course of my career, I have been involved in a wide range of portfolio decisions and continue to be involved in them today. Over the years, it has been observed that despite cultural differences, pharma teams face similar problems. Read More
