Microbial Genomics and Drug Discovery


Book Description

Exploring innovative routes of drug discovery in the postgenomic era, Microbial Genomics and Drug Discovery examines bioinformatic and genomic approaches for the identification, detection, selection, and validation of new antibacterial targets and vaccine candidates. The book discusses potential pathways for effective infection control, inhibition of antibacterial resistance, and acceleration of the drug discovery process. This comprehensive reference describes procedures to recognize common targets in various bacterial species for the design of broad-spectrum antibiotics and clearly illustrates the use of pathway tools in a genomics-based drug discovery project.




Microbial Functional Genomics


Book Description

Microbial Functional Genomics offers a timely summary of the principles, approaches, and applications. It presents a comprehensive review of microbial functional genomics, covering microbial diversity, microbial genome sequencing, genomic technologies, genome-wide functional analysis, applied functional genomics, and future directions. An introduction will offer a definition of the field and an overview of the historical and comparative genomics aspects.




Microbial Genomics and Drug Discovery


Book Description

Examines bioinformatic and genomic approaches for the identification, detection, selection, and validation of new antibacterial targets and vaccine candidates. Explores potential pathways for effective infection control, inhibition of antibacterial resistance, and acceleration of drug discovery processes. Illustrates the use of Pathway Tools in a genomics-based drug discovery project.




Drug Discovery Targeting Drug-Resistant Bacteria


Book Description

Drug Discovery Targeting Drug-Resistant Bacteria explores the status and possible future of developments in fighting drug-resistant bacteria. The book covers the majority of microbial diseases and the drugs targeting them. In addition, it discusses the potential targeting strategies and innovative approaches to address drug resistance. It brings together academic and industrial experts working on discovering and developing drugs targeting drug-resistant (DR) bacterial pathogens. New drugs active against drug-resistant pathogens are discussed, along with new strategies being used to discover molecules acting via new modes of action. In addition, alternative therapies such as peptides and phages are included. Pharmaceutical scientists, microbiologists, medical professionals, pathologists, researchers in the field of drug discovery, infectious diseases and microbial drug discovery both in academia and in industrial settings will find this book helpful.




Microbial Diversity in the Genomic Era


Book Description

Microbial Diversity in the Genomic Era presents insights on the techniques used for microbial taxonomy and phylogeny, along with their applications and respective pros and cons. Though many advanced techniques for the identification of any unknown bacterium are available in the genomics era, a far fewer number of the total microbial species have been discovered and identified to date. The assessment of microbial taxonomy and biosystematics techniques discovered and practiced in the current genomics era with suitable recommendations is the prime focus of this book. - Discusses the techniques used for microbial taxonomy and phylogeny with their applications and respective pros and cons - Reviews the evolving field of bacterial typing and the genomic technologies that enable comparative analysis of multiple genomes and the metagenomes of complex microbial environments - Provides a uniform, standard methodology for species designation




Evolution of Translational Omics


Book Description

Technologies collectively called omics enable simultaneous measurement of an enormous number of biomolecules; for example, genomics investigates thousands of DNA sequences, and proteomics examines large numbers of proteins. Scientists are using these technologies to develop innovative tests to detect disease and to predict a patient's likelihood of responding to specific drugs. Following a recent case involving premature use of omics-based tests in cancer clinical trials at Duke University, the NCI requested that the IOM establish a committee to recommend ways to strengthen omics-based test development and evaluation. This report identifies best practices to enhance development, evaluation, and translation of omics-based tests while simultaneously reinforcing steps to ensure that these tests are appropriately assessed for scientific validity before they are used to guide patient treatment in clinical trials.




Microbial Genomes


Book Description

This collection of diverse articles by the pioneers of modern genomics takes stock of the current state of the field and elucidates the contribution that sequencing genomes has made to our understanding of microbial metabolism and evolution. Through twenty-eight thought-provoking chapters, the authors describe some of the most common computational methods and their applications to studying pathogenic microorganisms, show how genomics can be used to reconstruct the history and dynamism of the microbial world, and discuss issues as diverse as reconstruction of metabolic pathways, cell cycle processes, microbial evolution, metagenomics, and vaccine development. Additional chapters deal with microarrays and expression analysis and the role of genomic in drug discovery.




Natural Compounds as Drugs, Volume II


Book Description

The use of substances derived from plants, fungi, bacteria and marine organisms has a long tradition in medicine. This book highlights the biodiversity-driven approaches which are now of eminent importance in natural products research. It addresses the question why natural products display such a complex chemical information, what makes them often unique and what their characteristics are. A compilation of current applicable technology makes this a brilliant reference work.




Evolutionary Systems Biology


Book Description

The book aims to introduce the reader to the emerging field of Evolutionary Systems Biology, which approaches classical systems biology questions within an evolutionary framework. An evolutionary approach might allow understanding the significance of observed diversity, uncover “evolutionary design principles” and extend predictions made in model organisms to others. In addition, evolutionary systems biology can generate new insights into the adaptive landscape by combining molecular systems biology models and evolutionary simulations. This insight can enable the development of more detailed mechanistic evolutionary hypotheses.




Natural Products


Book Description

A fresh examination of the past successes of natural products as medicines and their new future from both conventional and new technologies. High-performance liquid chromatography profiling, combinatorial synthesis, genomics, proteomics, DNA shuffling, bioinformatics, and genetic manipulation all now make it possible to rapidly evaluate the activities of extracts as well as purified components derived from microbes, plants, and marine organisms. The authors apply these methods to new natural product drug discoveries, to microbial diversity, to specific groups of products (Chinese herbal drugs, antitumor drugs from microbes and plants, terpenoids, and arsenic compounds), and to specific sources (the sea, rainforest, and endophytes). These new opportunities show how research and development trends in the pharmaceutical industry can advance to include both synthetic compounds and natural products, and how this paradigm shift can be more productive and efficacious.