The molecular basis of disease

Erophylaxis of cardiac diseases, multiple sclerosis, several types of cancer, epatitis, arthritis, and diabetes, among others. Since biopharmaceuticals focus their action on the molecular basis of diseases, they are providing physicians and patients with new powerful tools for the treatment of diseases, changing fundamentally the way diseases are treated (PhRMA, 2004). 

In summary, the marine environment contains a wealth of plants, animals and microorganisms. Due to their unique adaptations to their ocean habitat, they contain a wide diversity of natural products. These compounds have shown activity in a variety of assays which have relevance to human diseases. As our understanding of the molecular basis of disease expands, these compounds and ones yet to be discovered will provide lead compounds for human therapeutic treatment. Innovations in synthesis, fermentation of symbionts as well as in manipulation of biosynthetic genes will allow us to produce sufficient material for clinical use of the compounds. Marine organisms provide a unique opportunity for access to chemical diversity. 

The sequencing of the human genome has brought about a systematic means of viewing the molecular basis of disease through genes and their many... 

Molecular diseases were discovered only fifteen years ago. Much has been learned since, but the possibilities for further discovery are tremendous. Knowledge that may be obtained in the near future about the molecular structure of the human body and the molecular basis of disease may well lead to a great decrease in the amount of human suffering. 

In order to set the stage for this two-volume book, this Chapter provides an introduction into the molecular basis of disease. We then continue to discuss modern biological techniques with which we have recently been empowered to screen for molecular drugs targets as well as for the drugs themselves. The Chapter finishes with an overview over the field of bioinformatics as it is covered in the two volumes of this book. 

How does all this affect computational chemistry Pharmaceutical researchers must use every available tool to solve the health problems of today. And the tools for drug discovery must be more powerful than those available traditionally. More detailed knowledge of the molecular basis of disease means that a treatment may be found more readily. How are these molecular processes modeled and visualized The answer is computational chemistry. In industrialized countries today, every research-based pharmaceutical company has a computational chemistry effort. 

The discovery of molecular diseases was made only about 25 years ago, and with each passing year more information becomes available about the molecular basis of disease. In the course of time investigations along these lines should lead to important advances in controlling disease and decreasing the amount of human suffering. 

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