Biomedical research complexity

MIT—Whitehead Foundation 7.5 million Initial)y--Biology Dept, funding and a4nin. costs 20 million to build Whitehead Inst, for Biomedical Research 50 million trust, will supply 5 million annually for operating expenses Creation of Biomedical Research Complex Developmental/ Molecular Biology N/A (possibly determined by governing board of institute)... 

MIT-Whltehead Foundation ( ). In December 1981, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced plans to accept an offer from the Whitehead Foundation of New York to build and staff a multimillion dollar biomedical research complex focused on devel-opmental/molecular biology. 

Handling such interwoven networks and complex feedback loops is beyond the capability of common laboratory methods, not to mention that just the complexity of scientific literature itself is already beyond measure. Help from computers and bioinformatics has become a must in today s biomedical research. In fact, bioinformatics methods have become indispensable for each step in biomedical research, from high-throughput data collection to clinical decision support. This chapter focuses on the application of bioinformatics methods in the study of pharmacogenomics, drug discovery, and systems biology. 

Scientific research is not a pursuit for anyone who is interested in immediate returns on their work. Sometimes researchers spend a dozen years or more—and sometimes their whole lifetimes—before realizing a goal. This is often the case in biomedical research, where a discovery or invention alone is not the end of a research project. That discovery or invention then must typically go through a long and complex testing phase that may last 10 years or more. Such has been the story of the father of artificial blood cells, Thomas Ming Swi Chang. 

Speciation analysis comes into its own mainly in environmental, nutritional, and biomedical research. The sample matrices are generally highly complex and the requirements for reliable (trace) element determinations are stringent (even for total amounts). The most important challenges in this context involve... 

Since its inception about 15 year ago, MALDI-IMS has been developed into a powerful and versatile tool for biomedical research. It allows for the investigation of the spatial distribution of molecules at complex surfaces. The combination of molecular speciation with local analysis makes a chemical microscope that can be used for the direct biomolecular characterization of histological tissue section surface. However, successful detection of the analytes of interest at the desired spatial resolution requires careful attention to several steps in the IMS protocol matrix selection, matrix coating, data acquisition, and data processing. MALDI-IMS is increasingly playing an important role in the drug discovery and development and disease treatment. 

This volume serves to provide the readers with some fundamentals of luminescent transition metal complexes and the recent exciting developments of a selected variety of functions and potential applications that transition metal complexes can offer for the betterment of the society in areas related to materials, energy, and biomedical research. 

Dr. Summers research in the area of nuclear magnetic resonance studies of complex biosystems is at the forefront of biomedical research. Each summer approximately 20 undergraduates work in his laboratory. They are given the same responsibilities as graduate students, completing their own projects... 

Electrospray mass spectrometry has developed into a well-established method of wide scope and potential over the past 15 years. The softness of electrospray ionization has made this technique an indispensable tool for biochemical and biomedical research. Electrospray ionization has revolutionized the analysis of labile biopolymers, with applications ranging from the analysis of DNA, RNA, oligonucleotides, proteins as well as glycoproteins to carbohydrates, lipids, gly-colipids, and lipopolysaccharides, often in combination with state-of-the-art separation techniques like liquid chromatography or capillary electrophoresis [1,2]. Beyond mere analytical applications, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESMS) has proven to be a powerful tool for collision-induced dissociation (CID) and multiple-stage mass spectrometric (MSn) analysis, and - beyond the elucidation of primary structures - even for the study of noncovalent macromolecular complexes [3]. 

These enzymes are extraordinarily abundant over 1200 restriction endonucleases had been isolated and characterized by early 1990. Of three classes defined, type II restriction enzymes, which generally cut within their recognition sequences, have found uses in a host of biomedical research and diagnostic applications to be discussed below. Type 1 enzymes cut nonspecifically many nucleotides distal to specific recognition sequences and contain both restriction enzyme and DNA modification (see below) activities on different subunits of multienzyme complexes. Type III restriction enzymes share the multienzyme aspeas of type I enzymes but vary in other properties such as ATPase activity and cofactor requirements. 

Fluorescence microscopy is one of the most powerful imaging methods in modern biomedical research. Noninvasive, fluorescence microscopy allows dynamic imaging of live cells, tissues, and whole organisms. This capability for live sample imaging, combined with a large repertoire of spectrally distinct fluorescent probes and a variety of biochemically specific labeling techniques, enables the direct visualization of complex molecular and cellular processes in real time under physiological conditions. 

Ion-exclusion chromatography finds numerous applications for identification and determination of acidic species in complex matrix materials, such as dairy products, coffee, wine, beer, fruit juice, and other commercial products which can be quickly analyzed with minimal sample preparation before injection (usually only filtration, dilution, or centrifugation). Organic acid determination is also of great importance in biomedical research (e.g., physiological samples, in which most of the Krebs cycle acids (tricarboxylic acid cycle) are present). 

FIGURE 30.6 Examples of protein crystals. From left to right (3-secretase inhibitor complex human farnesyl pyrophosphatase in complex with the nitrogen-containing bisphosphonate drug zoledronic acid Crystals of the Abl kinase domain in complex with imatinib - Source Courtesy of S.W. Cowan-Jacob, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research crystal of a Cdk2 inhibitor complex. 

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