A drug has been developed to combat a lethal brain cancer using a drag-and-drop DNA-self assembly technique.
A team from Parabon Nanolabs built the drug up, molecule by molecule, using a computer program called inS?quio. It combines computer-aided-design principles with nanoscale fabrication processes.
In a press release, the US national science foundation, which funded the research, said that the approach "could drastically reduce the time required to create and test medications".
Traditional drug development relies on trial-and-error and vast effectiveness studies, whereas the self-assembly technique lets scientists target specific cell receptors or biological pathways.
For example, in this drug, developers combined molecules that were good at finding cancer cells with ones that were good at latching on to them, and molecules that were good at killing them. Combined, the molecules are effective at all three tasks.
"Currently, most drugs are developed using a screening technique where you try a lot of candidate compounds against targets to 'see what sticks'," says Steven Armentrout, a co-developer of the technology.
"Instead, we're designing very specific drugs based on their molecular structure, with target molecules that bind to receptors on specific types of cancer cells. In plug-and-play fashion, we can swap in or swap out any of the functional components, as needed, for a range of treatment approaches."
Source: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-12/08/drag-and-drop-drugs
the island president the maldives harper lee mega millions numbers the fray seahawks new uniforms 2012 tornadoes in dallas
No comments:
Post a Comment