The metabolic regulation of a cell system is of critical importance in systems biology, and a robust model of these mechanisms is essential in predicting the effects on the metabolism of both the culture environment and the knockout of specific genes. Bacterial cellular metabolic systems focuses on this highly topical subject in relation to culture environment and provides a detailed analysis from gene level to metabolic level regulation, as well as offering a discussion of the most recent modelling approaches. The book begins with an introduction to metabolic mechanisms and to the metabolic...

Nanotechnology-based therapeutics, operating at scales of billionths of a metre, have great potential for future expansion in altering the scale and methods of drug delivery. The availability of these novel formulations to once-inaccessible areas of the body has greatly expanded the therapeutic window of existing drug molecules. Nanoparticulate drug delivery highlights and examines the transition of nanoparticulate drug delivery systems from the laboratory into a commercially viable sector. The first chapters of the book provide an overview of the use and characterization of nanoparticulate...

The free/open source approach has grown from a minor activity to become a significant producer of robust, task-orientated software for a wide variety of situations and applications. To life science informatics groups, these systems present an appealing proposition - high quality software at a very attractive price. Open source software in life science research considers how industry and applied research groups have embraced these resources, discussing practical implementations that address real-world business problems.

The book is divided into four parts. Part one looks at laboratory data...

Protein folding is a process by which a protein structure assumes its functional shape of conformation, and has been the subject of research since the publication of the first software tool for protein structure prediction. Protein folding in silico approaches this issue by introducing an ab initio model that attempts to simulate as far as possible the folding process as it takes place in vivo, and attempts to construct a mechanistic model on the basis of the predictions made. The opening chapters discuss the early stage intermediate and late stage intermediate models, followed by a...

This authoritative and comprehensive book makes the reader familiar with the processes of bringing orphan drugs to the global market. There are between 5,000 and 7,000 rare diseases and the number of patients suffering from them is estimated to be more than 50 million in the US and Europe. Before the orphan drug legislation enacted in the US in 1983, there was a limited interest from industry to develop treatment for very small patient groups. One of the difficulties is, of course, that similar levels of investment are needed from a pharmaceutical company to bring a drug to the market for...

Written by a leading researcher in the field, Transporters in Drug Discovery and Development provides a comprehensive and practical guide to drug transporter families that are the most important for drug discovery and development. It covers: an overview of transporter families and organ distribution; clinical relevant drug-drug interaction; clinical relevant polymorphism; drug transporter related pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamics and toxicity; in vitro/in vivo probes of drug transport studies; the practical methodologies of industrial transporter screening and translational aspect in...

Biobanks represent an invaluable research tool and, as a result of their intrinsic and extrinsic nature, may be looked upon as archives or repositories largely made up of libraries, or collections of content where the content is the biological material derived from different individuals or species, representing valuable tangible assets. Biobanks analyses aspects of the commons and common intellectual property relating to the concepts of private property, not only concerning data but biological materials as well, and the advantages and disadvantages of patents in scientific research. Several...

Quality assurance is necessary to maintain quality and services in the pharmaceutical and life science industries. Quality assurance demonstrates that the logic and practice of problem solving can integrate both program efficacy and regulatory compliance. This title is divided into three parts; the first part discusses the process by which a problem in regulated industry is identified, for example a manufacturing deviation that leads to an adulterated drug product, and reviews the decision-making steps involved in remedying the problem. The second part delves into the staff training...

Ocular transporters and receptors contains detailed descriptions of major transporters and receptors expressed in the eye, with special emphasis on their role in drug delivery. The complex anatomy and the existence of multiple barriers in the eye pose a considerable challenge to successful drug delivery to the eye. Hence ocular transporters and receptors are important targets for drug delivery. A significant advancement has been made in the field of ocular transport research and their role in drug delivery. In this book the cutting edge research being carried out in this field is compiled and...

With the appearance of methods for the sequencing of genomes and less expensive next generation sequencing methods, we face rapid advancements of the -omics technologies and plant biology studies: reverse and forward genetics, functional genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, the movement at distance of effectors and structural biology. From plant genomics to plant biotechnology reviews the recent advancements in the post-genomic era, discussing how different varieties respond to abiotic and biotic stresses, understanding the epigenetic control and epigenetic memory, the roles...