PROTAC drug discovery – prior preparation and planning
Posted 1st July 2020 by Liv Sewell
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail” so said Benjamin Franklin, and as a veteran of early stage drug discovery you can bet that I, like you, have seen my fair share of successes but also more failures than I’d like.
Lifestyle Interventions in NASH – Backbone, Therapy or Waste of Time?
Posted 15th January 2018 by Jane Williams
The effects of lifestyle interventions as a baseline therapy for the treatment of NASH are well accepted. However, there is a high degree of frustration when it comes to recommending and implementing lifestyle changes. Large interventional studies in the field of metabolic disease are largely negative with regards to long-term outcomes.
Engineering the Microbiome – the Next Frontier
Posted 12th October 2017 by Jane Williams
Microbial ecology, our understanding of what determines the robustness and community dynamics of microbial consortia, and synthetic biology, the art of engineering microorganisms to perform particular physiological or metabolic functions, are rapidly becoming allies in the race to develop novel therapeutic strategies in the microbiome space.
Is the Medical World Ready for Faecal Transplantation as a Therapeutic Option?
Posted 7th July 2017 by Jane Williams
The gut microbiota has become a favourite “organ” of the biomedical community, with the number of publications on different aspects of its architecture and function rising exponentially in the last few years. In part fuelled by advances in DNA sequencing technology, multiple studies have been conducted in patients with gastrointestinal (GI) related diseases (IBD, Coeliac, etc.) (1, 2).
Cross-Cultural Research into Microbiome Therapeutics for Cancer
Posted 31st March 2017 by Jane Williams
While microbiome therapeutics to support healthy gut function have garnered the lion’s share of attention, exciting approaches to oncology and anti-inflammatory therapeutics presage a new golden age for drug development, akin to the early commercialisation of chemically synthesised antibiotics from soil biofilms in the mid-20th century.
Translating Skin Microbiome Research into Clinical Products
Posted 25th January 2017 by Jane Williams
Collaboration between academia and industry
It has been demonstrated many times in the past that academia and industry, working in tandem, can achieve results to their mutual benefit much faster than when they work in isolation. However, one critical challenge for academic researchers is finding the right partner to commercialise their technology.
Links Between Obesity and the Gut Microbiome: What do They Mean for Therapeutics?
Posted 24th October 2016 by Jane Williams
Obesity affects 600 million people globally, but the range of available treatments is limited. Recent findings that demonstrate a relationship between the gut microbiome and obesity have brought new hope that bacteria-based therapeutics might offer novel treatments.