Structural biologists drug discovery

The second use to which bioinformatics has been put in the drug discovery process is more fundamental. It is concerned with the use of techniques in molecular sequence analysis to generate relationships between sequenees that are themselves used to provide fundamental structures for databases of drug discovery information. Relationships between data elements are important because they help to place individual elements in a context that can be readily assimilated by the user of the system. In many situations, observers approach data from different points of view and bring to bear the richness of differing scientific experiences. Whether we care to admit it or not, "biologists" and "chemists" have dif-... 

It could be argued that drug discovery strategies of the past were analogous to fishing with a line and hook. A systematic series of trial and error experiments such as quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) methodologies, for example, were commonplace. The process was iterative and labor intensive. A chemist or biologist had relatively few restrictions, particularly with time, to explore ideas and test hypotheses. The overall endeavor was more craft than process. 

Over the past 30 years, most of the important discoveries in the biological sciences have been associated with proteins and nucleic acids, and thus chemists have been most active in conducting their research to address the relationship between the structure and function of these macromolecules as well as to develop small molecules as mechanistic probes or drug candidates to target these two types of biopolymers. This rapid progress of development is undoubtedly due to—other than the importance of proteins and nucleic acids in biological functions—the availability of various powerful tools (such as the polymerase chain reaction, solid-phase synthesizers, sequence analysis, and sensitive assay systems) to both chemists and biologists, and the close interplay between these two disciplines. 

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