This ability to control fluid structures at such small scales can be used potentially to devise new ways that improve the delivery and the effectiveness of drugs,
around the bloodstream to deliver lifesaving drugs. Dr Ledesma-Aguilar said: e have revealed the next piece of a puzzle that over time can lead to the controlled tailoring of liquids at extremely small scales. his knowledge opens the door to developing new devices that target other liquids, such as water-based solutions,
The results could help improve scientists'ability to build molecules that interlock very specifically with target sites on proteins-a fundamental part of designing new anticancer drugs.
The research could help other scientists to use CRYO EM in structure-based drug design studies-in which researchers build the best possible drugs starting from a molecule which already binds to the active site of a target protein.
"Revealing the molecule's detailed shape could be the first step towards designing more precise drugs to block it.
and drugs that block it are already available to patients -but making drugs that are more effective
the antimalarial garment can be worn during the day to provide extra protection and does not dissipate like skin-based repellants.
and whether drugs could be developed to stop it from happening. orth West Cancer Research (NWCR) has funded the research as part of a collaborative project between the University of Warwick and the University of Liverpool,
push large quantities of salt water through and the salt will be rejected on the basis of size
along with other researchers developed nanoscale particles that introduce silver antimicrobial potency to a biocompatible lignin core.
People have been interested in using silver nanoparticles for antimicrobial purposes, but there are lingering concerns about their environmental impact due to the long-term effects of the used metal nanoparticles released in the environment.
and environmentally responsible method to make effective antimicrobials with biomaterial cores. Velev, INVISTA Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular engineering at NC State.
the nanoparticles can form the basis for developing pesticide products that reduce risk, have minimal environmental impact,
We may include less of the antimicrobial ingredient without losing effectiveness while at the same time using an inexpensive technique that has a lower environmental burden.
#New Multispectral Microscope for Studying Impact of Experimental Drugs on Biological Samples This is the largest such microscopic image ever created.
This level of multicolor detail is essential for studying the impact of experimental drugs on biological samples
thus addressing a major bottleneck in pharmaceutical research: rapid, data-rich biomedical imaging. By merging data simultaneously collected by thousands of microlenses optical elements each smaller than the width of a human hair this new multispectral microscope is able to produce a continuous series of datasets that essentially reveal how much of multiple colors
RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. e recognized that the microscopy part of the drug development pipeline was much slower than it could be designed
This is essential for pharmaceutical research particularly cancer research--to observe how cells and tissues respond to specific chemicals and experimental drugs.
Such research, however, is very data intensive and slow since current multispectral microscopes can only survey a single point at a time with few color channels,
Impact of Big data on Multispectral Imagingthe goal of this technology is to speed up drug discovery.
if a specific drug kills cancer cells more often than healthy cells. This requires testing the same drug on thousands to millions of cells with varying doses and under different conditions,
which is normally a very time-consuming and labor-intensive task. The new microscope presented in this paper speeds up this process
which will help researchers discover life-changing drugs more quickly and efficiently, concludes Orth. Source:
as a basis for certain colored LEDS. If the gallium phosphide is processed in the form of tiny nanowires,
#Nanolock Signs Agreement to License Patents and Related Anti-Biofilm Nanoparticles to Reduce Antimicrobial Resistance Nanolock,
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is considered to be the most urgent and important challenge of all medical fields.
"The nano-polymer additive has a broad spectrum of antibacterial effect. It kills Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria,
Both Brandl and Bertrand are trained as pharmacists, and describe their discovery as a happy accident:
They initially sought to develop nanoparticles that could be used to deliver drugs to cancer cells. Brandl had synthesized previously polymers that could be cleaved apart by exposure to UV LIGHT.
But he and Bertrand came to question their suitability for drug delivery, since UV LIGHT can be damaging to tissue and cells,
and approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a food additive, and polylactic acid, a biodegradable plastic used in compostable cups and glassware.
The study also suggests the broader potential for adapting nanoscale drug-delivery techniques developed for use in environmental remediation. hat we can apply some of the highly sophisticated,
and to develop ideas for technical assistance systems together with Fraunhofer researchers on that basis. Some of them are missing limbs
as a result of damage caused by the drug thalidomide, while others suffer from hearing impairments. hese specific disabilities led to concrete ideas,
Historically drug development activities in this space have focused on blocking mtorc1 activation in part because hyperactivation of the pathway can lead to aberrant growth seen in cancer
and societal impact and affects businesses on a daily if not hourly basis, with a $9. 7 trillion economic influence globally,"said Anne Hale Miglarese, President and CEO of Planetiq."
#Fingerprint Sensor Ensures Dispensing of Medication to the Correct Patient Which is exactly the point.
The U s. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have estimated that drug overdoses kill more than 44,000 Americans annually,
Federal officials also say that at least one in 20 Americans ingests drugs prescribed for someone else.
and build a theft-and tamper-resistant pill dispenser. The Johns Hopkins studentstamper-resistant pill dispenser prototype features a fingerprint scanner
at left, which verifies the patient identity and then releases, at right, the correct dosage only within the prescribed time frame.
Johns hopkins university) e needed this personal pill afeto have tamper resistance, personal identification capabilities, and a locking mechanism that allows only a pharmacist to load the device with pills,
said Kavi Bhalla, assistant professor at the university Bloomberg School of Public health and one of the team mentors for the project.
and circuitry to ensure that drugs are dispensed only to the prescribed patient at the prescribed intervals and in the prescribed dosage.
The sensor ensures that the medication is dispensed only to the correct patient; a timer ensures that no dose is dispensed too soon. he device starts to work when the patient scans in his or her fingerprint.
which picks up a pill from a loaded cartridge and empties it into the exit channel.
The pill falls down the channel and lands on a platform where the patient can see that the pill has been dispensed.
and catches the pill in their hand, explains Carney, of Larchmont, New york. According to Heaney, of Oyster Bay, New york,
and talked to the pharmacist at the Rite-aid on the Johns Hopkins Homewood campus and got his feedback on our design
but also simple for the pharmacist to unlock, load with pills, and then relock. nce the team members were satisfied with the input from the pharmacist,
they then challenged a student to try to break into their invention. e took a hammer and other tools to it, from a hacksaw to a drill,
John Buse, MD, Phd, co-senior author of the PNAS paper, explains how important an accurate medication method is:"
"Injecting the wrong amount of medication can lead to significant complications like blindness and limb amputations,
and Microsystems Lab at UF, worked on the project with Fong Wong, an associate professor in UF Restorative Dental Sciences Department and Craniofacial Center.
It may also prove useful in discovering concealed goods in the retail industry or for non-destructive monitoring, for example quality control in drugs or food.
and security applications, including airborne and ground-based surveillance, condition monitoring, research and development, manufacturing process control, search and rescue, drug interdiction, navigation, transportation safety, border
a sulfa-based compound found in many prescription glaucoma drugs, actually turns off the bacterium's ability to invade the immune system.
The research paper is in the current issue of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.""Basically, ethoxzolamide stops TB from deploying its weapons...
and slow the emergence of drug resistance, particularly if found to work in conjunction with other existing TB drugs.
Current treatments can last up to six months.""The single biggest reason for the evolution of drug-resistant strains is the long course of treatment,
"Abramovitch said.""It's difficult for a patient to complete the entire antibiotic course required to kill all of the bacteria.
Shortening the duration will help slow the development of these resistant strains.""Trying to kill TB bacteria isn't the only way of stopping the disease though, Abramovitch added."
"We don't necessarily have to find drugs that kill TB, we just need to find ones that interfere with the bug's ability to sense
#'Home-brewed morphine'made possible Scientists have figured out how to brew morphine using the same kit used to make beer at home.
They have modified genetically yeast to perform the complicated chemistry needed to convert sugar to morphine.
raise promise for medicine but also concerns about"home-brewed"illegal drugs. Experts have called for tight control of organisms genetically modified to produce narcotics.
But by borrowing DNA from plants, scientists have been genetically engineering yeasts that can perform each of the steps needed to convert sugar into morphine.
and the scientists say it should now be possible to put all the steps together and"brew"morphine.
and have the yeast do all the chemical steps required downstream to make your target therapeutic drug."
"Morphine plays a vital role in pain relief in many hospitals, but it requires a poppy harvest to manufacture.
Brewed morphine could, eventually, be easier to produce. It could also allow scientists to tweak each of the steps to develop new types of painkiller.
The broad concept of using microscopic organisms to make drugs is not new in medicine.
and basic skills in fermentation would be able to grow morphine producing yeast using a a home-brew kit for beer-making,
which is applied probably best on a population-basis rather than an individual patient basis ."Whilst its accuracy in defining who had HCV
it has already been used to build various shapes and even prototype drug-delivery"robots"."But the flexibility and ease of use of the new system are striking.
which aims to bring new drugs and medical devices to patients. Cathy Yelf, of the Macular Society, said:"
When the researchers administered drugs to inhibit the movement of certain"motor"proteins that transport mitochondria and other cargo within the cell by traveling along microtubules
#Researchers discover how opium poppies synthesize morphine From left: Peter Facchini, professor in biological sciences, Jill Hagel, research associate,
Many people who live in developing countries do not have access to the pain relief that comes from morphine or other analgesics.
and research associate Jill Hagel, have characterized a novel gene that encodes the gateway enzyme in the formation of morphine
which encodes the gateway enzyme in the formation of morphine, "says Farrow.""It's really interesting to see these fused genes in a metabolic pathway.
and detail the missing step to morphine biosynthesis. Next steps Facchini says the isolation of this gene,
among many other things, is a key step toward the reassembly of the pathway to morphine in microorganisms such as yeast."
"These efforts could lead to the development of alternative production systems for painkillers such as morphine,
and a drug-screening tool to make pregnancies safer. In experiments to be published Tuesday, July 14, in the journal Nature Communications,
who is co-senior author of the study with Dr. Bruce Conklin, a senior investigator at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular disease and a professor of medical genetics and cellular and molecular pharmacology at UC San francisco."
"This technology could help us quickly screen for drugs likely to generate cardiac birth defects, and guide decisions about
which drugs are dangerous during pregnancy.""Screening for drug toxicity To test the potential of the system as a drug-screening tool,
the researchers exposed the differentiating cells to thalidomide, a drug known to cause severe birth defects.
They found that at normal therapeutic doses, the drug led to abnormal development of microchambers, including decreased size,
problems with muscle contraction and lower beat rates compared with heart tissue that had not been exposed to thalidomide."
"Each year, as many as 280,000 pregnant women are exposed to drugs with evidence of potential fetal risk.
and the potential for generating cardiac defects is of utmost concern in determining drug safety during pregnancy."
and other UC Berkeley researchers publicly debuted a system of beating human heart cells on a chip that could be used to screen for drug toxicity.
Phd, made a significant discovery on how HIV escapes the body's antiviral responses. The team uncovered how an HIV viral protein known as Vpu tricks the immune system by using its own regulatory process to evade the host's first line of defence.
The study's goal was to determine how HIV manages to compromise antiviral responses in the initial period of infection,
and antiviral drugs, represent the primary barrier to a cure.""An important component in this process is a group of proteins collectively called type 1 Interferons,
The Interferon then triggers a large array of defence mechanisms in nearby cells, creating an antiviral state that prevents the dissemination and, ultimately,
However, HIV uses the viral protein Vpu to counteract BST2 antiviral activity.""""With this study, we uncovered a unique mechanism
whereby HIV exploits the regulatory process between BST2 and ILT7 to limit the body's antiviral response,
all the while counteracting its direct antiviral activity on HIV production.""""The hope for a definitive cure and an effective vaccine has been frustrated by HIV's endless propensity to subvert the host's defences
"Our findings can provide tools to enhance antiviral responses during the early stages of infection.
while also allowing pdcs to trigger effective antiviral responses. We believe that such interventions during primary infection have the potential to limit the establishment and complexity of viral reservoirs,
drugs that target this entry protein might help prevent the spread of disease. Malaria is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium falciparum,
CD68 may represent a potential new drug target in the fight against malaria a
#Study finds non-genetic cancer mechanism Cancer can be caused solely by protein imbalances within cells,
As the gatekeeper of the digestive track, this massive organ is responsible for drug breakdown and is therefore the first to be injured due to overdose or misuse.
Evaluating this drug-induced liver injury is a critical part of pharmaceutical drug discovery and must be carried out on human liver cells.
"This is quite a revolution for pharmaceutical drug discovery, "said Prof. Yaakov Nahmias, the study's senior author."
and could not be used reliably for drug discovery. In fact, up until now stem cell-derived hepatocytes showed little ability to predict clinical outcome."
"The limited availability of functional hepatocytes for drug testing is a major bottleneck bringing pharmaceutical companies to spend $1 billion/year on liver cells alone."
and bile acids that activate the fetal liver's dormant drug metabolism program. The groundbreaking work further demonstrated that liver cells produced from either embryonic stem cells
can detect the toxic effect of over a dozen drugs with greater than 97%accuracy."
"The implications for liver biology and drug discovery are said quite staggering Prof. Oren Shibolet, Head of the Liver Unit at the Tel-aviv Sourasky Medical center, who was involved not in this study."
and is likely to critically improve our ability to predict drug toxicity, which was limited previously by the unavailability of liver cells.
and drug metabolism in their children to develop quiet differently.""Source: The Hebrew University of Jerusale e
The researchers say that the technique could be used to develop drugs that specifically target the peripheral nervous system
which could reduce the side effects of pain medication. Other applications could be in better understanding neurological conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases,
a finding they say could lead to new pain-relieving drugs. People with two mutant copies of the PRDM12 gene experience a condition called congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP.
'We are very hopeful that this new gene could be an excellent candidate for drug development,
and possibilities for using these mechanisms as a basis for treatments of pain are already being investigated.
Two other genes linked to CIP are already being used to develop drugs currently being tested as painkillers.
#Bubble delivery can rescue failing drug candidates, says Oxford team The technique has the support of pharma companies including GSK and Pfizer,
which see it as a way to revive compounds abandoned in development, said Eleanor Stride,
The professor told in-Pharmatechnologist. com the method can be used to help small and large molecule medicines hone in on their targets. ith all therapies that are used currently particularly cancer the major problem is very little of the drug makes it to the target site.
That true of both conventional and antibody therapy. e inject drugs into the bloodstream and they go absolutely everywhere,
not straight to the tumour. his latest method ncases the drug in a bubble like a soap bubble. he bubble consists of a shell of phospholipids surrounding a gas core made of fluorocarbons gases of very high molecular weight
The active drug part can sit within the shell, inside another layer of liquid, or tagged onto the outside of the shell.
said Stride. hen we expose it to ultrasound that will break the shell and release the drug. ew dawn for ADCS,
While scientists around the world are researching other types of stimuli-responsive drug delivery, he good thing about ultrasound is it helps push the drug into the tissue often the cells youe trying to get at are nowhere near the surface of the tumour. he method can even magnetise the bubbles
so they accumulate at the target site. The bubbles last less than ten minutes in the bloodstream before breaking down,
Stride told us the bubble delivery technique could be especially helpful in rescuing four types of drug:
A clinical study at the University of Oxford is currently investigating using an existing drug in combination with ultrasound but without the bubble technology,
and pharma and is developing the technique through the Oxford Centre for Drug Delivery Devices o
We are testing the substrate with potential commercial partners now. ommercial applicationsthe polymer has application in both the production of cells for drug safety testing
or these stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes, the value lies in understanding disease, testing to make safer drugs and potential for translation into cell therapy.
We are testing the substrate with potential commercial partners now. ommercial applicationsthe polymer has application in both the production of cells for drug safety testing
or these stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes, the value lies in understanding disease, testing to make safer drugs and potential for translation into cell therapy.
and to detect drug resistance in infectious diseases. Bringing techniques and testing that is normally confined to a laboratory or hospital, out into the field,
and other bacteria antibiotic resistance that is about 14,000 base pairs long. For 5, 000 base-pair or shorter segments,
and potentially decide on a drug choice based on some of the genetic testing copy number variations of certain genes that you would find in the sample taken from the patient. he technology also removes barriers to testing that cities
and our aging population. ext up the researchers plan to test their device in the field to detect the presence of malaria-related drug resistance.
#New Chip Makes Testing for Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria Faster, Easier We live in fear of uperbugs infectious bacteria that don respond to treatment by antibiotics,
and can turn a routine hospital stay into a nightmare. A 2015 Health Canada report estimates that superbugs have already cost Canadians $1 billion,
Each year two million people in the U s. contract antibiotic-resistant infections, and at least 23,000 people die as a direct result.
But tests for antibiotic resistance can take up to three days to come back from the lab
Now Ph d. researcher Justin Besant and his team at the University of Toronto have designed a small and simple chip to test for antibiotic resistance in just one hour,
giving doctors a shot at picking the most effective antibiotic to treat potentially deadly infections.
In the meantime, the doctor prescribes her patient a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Sometimes the one-size-fits-all antibiotic works
and sometimes it doesn, and when the tests come back days later, the doctor can prescribe a specific antibiotic more likely to kill the bacteria. uessing can lead to resistance to these broad-spectrum antibiotics,
and in the case of serious infections, to much worse outcomes for the patient, says Besant. e wanted to determine
whether bacteria are susceptible to a particular antibiotic, on a timescale of hours, not days.
Besant and his team, including his supervisor Professor Shana Kelley of the Institute for Biomaterials & Biomedical engineering and the Faculties of Pharmacy and Medicine,
where theye trapped with the antibiotic and a signal molecule called resazurin. Living bacteria metabolize resazurin into a form called resorufin,
If the bacteria are killed effectively by the antibiotic, they stop metabolizing resazurin and the electrochemical signature in the sample stays the same.
If they are antibiotic-resistant they continue to metabolize resazurin into resorufin, altering its electrochemical signature.
Rapid alternatives to existing antibiotic resistance tests rely on fluorescence detection, requiring expensive and bulky fluorescence microscopes to see the result. he electronics for our electrochemical readout can easily fit in a very small benchtop instrument,
for example, says Besant. he next step would be to create a device that would allow you to test many different antibiotics at many different concentrations,
and it also provides capability for drug discovery and design, said David Agard, Ph d.,professor of biophysics and biochemistry and a Howard hughes medical institute (HHMI) investigator,
However, fewer companies have worked on vaccines and drugs for the MERS virus, according to Reuters. Small biotech companies such as Greffex,
the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, and the UNC Diabetes Care Center. he whole system can be personalized to account for a diabetic weight and sensitivity to insulin,
njecting the wrong amount of medication can lead to significant complications like blindness and limb amputations,
and could identify new targets for cancer medications. Throughout the human body, certain signalling chemicals--known as hormones--tell various cells
or proteins that could be targeted by drugs, eventually leading to new medicines to fight cancer.
#Major Step for Implantable Drug Delivery Device An implantable, microchip-based device may soon replace the injections
and pills now needed to treat chronic diseases: Earlier this month, MIT spinout Microchips Biotech partnered with a pharmaceutical giant to commercialize its wirelessly controlled, implantable,
microchip-based devices that store and release drugs inside the body over many years. Invented by Microchips Biotech cofounders Michael Cima, the David H. Koch Professor of Engineering,
and osteoporosis. Now Microchips Biotech will begin co-developing microchips with Teva Pharmaceutical, the world largest producer of generic drugs,
Apart from providing convenience, Microchips Biotech said these microchips could also improve medication-prescription adherence a surprisingly costly issue in the United states. A 2012 report published in the Annals of Internal medicine estimated that Americans who don stick to prescriptions rack up $100 billion
ouldn this be a great way to make a drug-delivery system??Langer said. He brought this idea to Cima,
and somewhat fantastical, applications beyond drug delivery, including disease diagnostics and jewelry that could emit scents. e were trying to find the killer application.
Any intense heat during final assembly, with hermetic sealing, could destroy the drugs already loaded into the reservoirs
yet carry the same volume of drugs. his means making the drugs take up more volume than the electrical and other components,
Known as SAPH-ire (Structural Analysis of PTM Hotspots), the tool could accelerate the search for potential new drug targets on protein structures,
as well as a majority of pharmaceutical drugs. Because of their importance to therapeutics, these proteins have been studied extensively over a period of 50 years or so.
how we develop the next generation of medications for chronic painhich is by far the most prevalent human health conditionnd the way we execute basic biomedical research using mice. esearch has demonstrated that men
. E. P. Taylor Professor of Pain Studies at Mcgill University and Director of the Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain. he realization that the biological basis for pain between men and women
Better targeted medication According to the researchers, a completely different type of immune cell, called T cells, appears to be responsible for sounding the pain alarm in female mice.
targeted pain medications, said Michael Salter, M d.,Ph d.,Head and Senior Scientist, Neuroscience & Mental health at Sickkids and Professor at The University of Toronto,
so these findings tell us there are important questions raised for human pain drug development. Including female mice The discovery comes as there is increased attention to the inclusion of female animals and cells in preclinical research.
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011