Antibody fragment technology and avian IgY antibodies: a powerful combination
Recombinant monoclonal antibodies or antibody biologics have been successfully developed as diagnostic and therapeutic agents...
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Zika Virus: a public emergency of international concern
4 February 2016 | By Victoria White, Digital Content Producer, Drug Target Review
The Zika virus has taken hold in South America. Its possible link to microcephaly in newborn babies and neurological conditions has led the World Health Organization to declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Here we discuss the virus, countermeasures and the race for a vaccine...
Drug Target Review’s top 10 stories from 2015
28 January 2016 | By Victoria White, Digital Content Producer, Drug Target Review
2015 was an exciting year for the drug discovery industry. Here we look at a selection of stories that particularly stood out for us…
Analysing recombinant proteins by mass spectrometry
The drug discovery landscape is changing: no longer limited to big pharma, it is now within reach of academics and small consortia alike. Regardless of the setting, drug discovery requirements are always the same: strong biological theory, good chemical starting material and high quality protein samples from which to determine…
Mass spectrometry and systems biology approaches in drug target discovery
Cells, organs and organisms are complex biological systems consisting of inter-related components that co-operatively work to maintain function and respond to change. Malfunction of any component can lead to pathologies and disease, leading to system-wide changes and subsequent adaptation. Hence, the ability to study and predict system behaviour will considerably…
Drug Target Review – Issue #4 2015
3 December 2015 | By Drug Target Review
Included in this issue: Biomarkers, Mass Spectrometry, Target Validation, Drug Development, Personalised Medicines, Next-Generation Sequencing, Protein Expression, Companion Diagnostics, and much more...
Mass Spectrometry In-Depth Focus 2015
In this Mass Spectrometry In-Depth Focus: Michelle M. Hill from University of Queensland discusses Mass spectrometric and systems biology approaches in drug target discovery, and Nicola Burgess-Brown, Rod Chalk, Claire Strain-Damerell and Pravin Mahajan from the Structural Genomics Consortium look at analysing recombinant proteins by mass spectrometry...
Health and Safety Law – Avoid falling off a ladder and into the dock
Health and Safety Law rarely arouses interest, either amongst companies or lawyers, yet its importance is growing and it has become the area in which companies and their directors are likely to find themselves in the dock, facing a criminal prosecution.
Biomarkers as molecular footprints for cancer therapy: current perspectives and promises
Knowledge about cancer biomarkers has increased tremendously and provides clinicians and researchers with valued opportunities to understand the molecular mechanism of cancer, thus applying it to effective, early-stage diagnosis and treatment. Cancer biomarkers include a vast range of biochemical molecules such as nucleic acids, proteins, sugars, lipids, small metabolites, cytogenetic…
The challenges associated with ‘de-risking’ early-stage therapeutic targets
The pharmaceutical industry is searching for novel drug targets that could produce the next generation of ‘first-in-class’ therapeutic agents. The challenge for academia is to identify and translate such targets and to provide starting points and confidence in the underlying science. The aim should be to generate evidence that modulation…
Enabling new targets by integrated lead discovery
Progress in the understanding of disease mechanisms provides new opportunities to discover molecules that modulate disease. To capitalise on these opportunities, successful lead discovery strategies need to build on insights into how a cellular phenotype or a target contributes to disease biology. Recent advances in induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs),…
3D printing: A new era for personalised medicines?
3D printing (3DP) is attracting increasing interest as a new method of fabricating pharmaceutical products, especially with the recent United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the first three-dimensional (3D) printed tablet Spritam® (levetiracetam). 3DP is considered to be an additive manufacturing technique, because regardless of their principles of…
Next-generation transcriptomic analysis in cancer vascular research
Over the past decade significant advances have been made in the fields of genomic and transcriptomic profiling, inspired by the advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS). Yet despite the considerable promise of these new technologies, uptake has been slow. The focus of this review is the use of next-generation transcriptomic analysis…
Protein Expression: The growing potential of plant-made monoclonal antibodies
The success story of Mapp Pharmaceuticals’ experimental drug, ZMapp, during last year’s Ebola outbreak highlights the potential of plant-made monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) as life-saving treatments.
Companion Diagnostics: Challenges in the development of pharmacist-based point-of-care tests
A 2010 overview article on companion diagnostics, compiled by authors Stephen Naylor and Toby Cole, commented on the need for the companion diagnostic to fit into the logistics of the testing laboratory. The intervening five years have shown that patients are demanding more rapid and more convenient testing for diagnosis,…