Credit for this information is given to:
Time Magazine
Issue Date: 01/15/01
The Brave New Pharmacy
Michael D. Lemonick
Welcome to my DNA Medical Page
I was working in the lab late one night,
when my eyes beheld an eerie sight,
For my monster from his slab began to rise,
And suddenly to my surprise,
He did the mash, he did the monster mash.....
"The Brave New Pharmacy"
This magazine article written by Michael D. Lemonick is a very interesting piece of reading. Mr. Lemonick describes "using high-speed robots, and the secrets of the human genome, scientist are changing forever the way they discover new medicines."
Dr. Robert Tepper (nicknamed Mr. Efficiency,) Chief Scientific Officer of Millennium Pharmaceuticals says "there are experiments that we could only dream of but could never do before the genome."
At Millennium, located at Cambridge Mass, in an old factory building, a remarkable machine named "Zeus" is hard at work. With its two robotic arms, it searches, locates, and identifies tens of thousands of snippets of DNA material. With Zeus's technology, this tiny machine has saved mankind research money, valuable time, and human lives that would other wise be lost.
Other companies just like Millennium Pharmaceuticals are in a race to find the cure to many diseases. You can find many of these companies if you visit my dnalinks page.
(1.) Mining the Database:
Millenium is attempting to construct on improved blood-pressure drug by advancing today's well-known ACE inhibitor.
(2.) Narrowing Choice:
Zeus, a machine that pulls out 10,000 snippets corresponding to those computer matches. There are several processes, which the first one is to settle the snippets on plastic plates, then Zeus dips narrow needles into the wells, spots them on a sheet of nylon paper; creating a microarray. The sheets are rolled up and slipped into test tubes, washed with genetic material and when the gene is active, it lights up under UV (ultraviolet.) The reseachers choose one from the patterns of brightness to state which one is ACE-2.
(3.) Isolating the Drugs:
After confirming their experiments, the reseachers then look for a chemical that will inhibit ACE-2. Since they have the knowledge of what the visual is, it then gives them a headstart in this process.
(4.) Testing the Animals:
Millenniun scientists must experiment ACE-2 inhibitor on the labortory animals for safety. Something that would normally have taken five to 10 years to accomplish, can now be done in two years with assistance of Zeus.
(5.) Testing in Humans:
If the ACE-2 inhibitor was sucessful with animals, then humans would use it and save time and money by screening human subjects for genetic compatibility with the drugs.
(6.) FDA Approval:
After ACE-2 inhibitor is sucessful with animals and humans, the product would be published in commercial production and available in pharmacy stores.
IT'S ALIVE!!!
IT'S ALIVE
Please email me with any questions or comments.
(This page was drug tested on 03/31/01)