Bioinformatics And Drug Discovery :

Alcove lifesciences are experts in Drug Designing. Mainly focussed on :

Computer Aided Drug Designing :
Computer-Aided Drug Design (CADD) is a specialized discipline that uses computational methods to simulate drug-receptor interactions. CADD methods are heavily dependent on bioinformatics tools, applications and databases. As such, there is considerable overlap in CADD research and bioinformatics.

Structure Based Drug Designing :
Structure-based drug design is one of several methods in the rational drug design toolbox. Drug targets are typically key molecules involved in a specific metabolic or cell signaling pathway that is known, or believed, to be related to a particular disease state. Drug targets are most often proteins and enzymes in these pathways. Drug compounds are designed to inhibit, restore or otherwise modify the structure and behavior of disease-related proteins and enzymes. SBDD uses the known 3D geometrical shape or structure of proteins to assist in the development of new drug compounds.

Lead Discovery :
As the structures of more and more proteins and nucleic acids become available, molecular docking is increasingly considered for lead discovery. Our recent studies consider the hit-rate enhancement of docking screens and the accuracy of docking structure predictions. As more structures are determined experimentally, docking against homology-modeled targets also becomes possible for more proteins. With more docking studies being undertaken, the 'drug-likeness' and specificity of docking hits is also being examined.

CADD- Business Implications:
Target-based drug discovery approach is appealing because it holds the promise of identifying more-efficacious compounds with fewer undesirable side effects. Companies have therefore invested significant resources in acquiring and developing technologies for identifying and validating new drug targets. This report explores both state-of-the-art and emerging target identification and validation technologies and methods. We consider the limitations of these technologies and their impact on drug discovery, examine relevant business models, and profile selected companies with novel target identification and validation technologies.

- A wide array of target identification technologies is available, including genomics, gene expression analysis and proteomics. Biomarkers and metabolomic profiling are emerging tools for monitoring the biological effects of manipulating a potential drug target. Technologies such as gene identification and protein inhibition studies provide researchers with a multipronged approach to validating new targets for Drug Discovery and Development. The most successful approaches combine several technologies to provide a detailed understanding of the biological effects of altering the activity of a single target.

High Throughput screening:
The pharmaceutical industry have changed with time and driven marked changes in the industry, both in terms of its business structures and its scientific approaches to drug discovery and development. In response, screening methodologies have also improved with time, both in terms of throughput and the amount of information to be derived from the screen. Advances in assay and instrument technologies have provided the means necessary to address these evolving needs.

Elements of High-Throughput Screening Technology
High-throughput screening is a key link in the chain comprising the industrialized drug discovery paradigm. High-throughput screening is perhaps most accurately understood as one stage in an evolving process. High-throughput screening is evolving not only as a discrete activity, but as a perspective that is expanding backward toward target identification and validation and forward to converting assay hits to qualified leads via information generated either within screens or through downstream, high-throughput ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion) and toxicity testing.

In terms of definition, high-throughput screening can be considered the process in which batches of compounds are tested for binding activity or biological activity against target molecules. Test compounds act as inhibitors of target enzymes, as competitors for binding of a natural ligand to its receptor, as agonists or antagonists for receptor-mediated intracellular processes, and so forth. High-throughput screening seeks to screen large numbers of compounds rapidly and in parallel. Yet in another sense, high-throughput screening is an evolving process that is today a discrete activity and may tomorrow become more highly integrated into a rapidly changing drug discovery paradigm.

Positive high-throughput screening results are usually called hits. Compounds resulting in hits are collected for further testing in which, for example, the potency of an enzyme inhibitor or the binding affinity of a ligand for a receptor may be determined. After this second level of triage, hits become lead compounds. Further synthesis may then be required to provide a variety of compounds structurally related to the lead. These sublibraries must then be screened against targets in order to choose optimal structures. At this stage, some basic indicators of toxicity or bioavailability may be considered in an attempt to eliminate potential failures as early in the discovery process as possible.


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