Tapping molecular wilderness : drugs from chemistry--biology--biodiversity interface / Yongyuth Yuthavong.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Yongyuth Yuthavong, author.

Contributor:

CRC Press.

Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Drug development.

Biodiversity.

Biomolecules.

Drug targeting.

Drug resistance.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxi, 127 pages)

polychrome

Place of Publication:

Boca Raton, FL : Pan Stafford Publishing, [2015]

System Details:

text file

Summary:

This book is for readers with some background in science, concerning the search for drugs, starting from molecular diversity in nature or molecular wilderness. Drug molecules may be used as such, or as starting points for improved drugs obtained from the interface of chemistry and biology. In some cases, the essential molecular features for drug properties from natural molecules may be identified and modified to more effective ones. In other cases, nature provides the targets, such as essential enzymes from infectious microorganisms, from which synthetic drugs can be designed. The mechanisms of action of drugs can be discerned by studying target-drug interactions. Nature may fight back, as in cases when microorganisms become resistant to drugs, but we can again use the chemistry-biology interface to obtain drugs which overcome the resistance. The battle goes on, hopefully with victory for both humans and balance of nature. This book differs from those available on the subject of natural products and drugs derived there from in that it looks at the broad picture on how materials and organisms from nature affect our health and how we have combined our knowledge in chemistry, biology, and biodiversity to promote our wellness from resources in the "molecular wilderness," with caveats on sustainable utilization of these resources. It is therefore suitable, not only for readers interested in science and medicine, but also for those with interest in policy issues concerning sustainable development, environment, and issues concerning interaction of science and society in general. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Molecular Wilderness, Harsh and Healing 1

1.1 Wilderness Is Harsh 1

1.2 Wilderness Is Healing 4

1.3 We Are Living in a Molecular Wilderness 8

1.4 Chemicals as Universal Tools of the Wilderness 9

1.5 Interaction between Molecules as the Essence of the Wilderness 11

1.6 Tapping the Molecular Wilderness for Drugs 14

1.7 Tapping the Molecular Wilderness for Drug Targets 15

1.8 General Outline of This Book 16

2 Gifts from Molecular Wilderness 19

2.1 Traditional Medicine: From Past to Present 19

2.2 The Value of Traditional Wisdom and the Importance of Validation 23

2.3 Critical Issues on Drugs from Traditional Medicine 24

2.4 Biodiversity as a Source of Drugs from Nature 25

2.5 Drug Discovery: From Biology to Medicine through Chemistry and Allied Sciences 29

2.6 Origins and Classes of Natural Products 35

2.7 Genes as Sources of Natural Products 37

2.8 Tapping Molecular Wilderness Sustainably 41

3 Drug Targets from Molecular Wilderness 43

3.1 The Dark Side of the Wilderness 43

3.2 Fighting the Invaders 48

3.3 The Concept of Drug Targets 50

3.4 Targets and Receptors as Crucial Components of Life Processes 51

3.5 Finding the Right Targets: Classical and Chemical Genetics 56

3.6 Natural Products as Underexplored Sources of Drugs and Tools for Drug Target-Finding 59

3.7 Hitting the Targets: Drugs by Design 60

3.8 Hitting the Targets: Random Screening 65

3.9 Phenotypic versus Target-Based Screening 65

4 Molecular Wilderness as Templates for Drugs 67

4.1 Expanding the Potentials of Molecular Wilderness 68

4.2 Sustainable Production of Drugs from Nature 71

4.3 Expanding the Diversity of Drugs from Nature through Chemistry 72

4.4 Selection of Drug-Like Molecules: General Molecular Characters for 'Druggability' 77

4.5 Fragment-Based Drug Discovery 78

4.6 Expanding Drug Diversity through Biology 79

4.7 Need for New Drugs in the Pipeline 80

5 The Wilderness Fights Back 81

5.1 'Life Finds a Way' 82

5.2 Drug Resistance: A Problem of Increasing Urgency 83

5.3 Mechanisms of Drug Resistance 84

5.4 Ease of Occurrence and Spread of Drug Resistance and Factors Which Promote Them 86

5.5 Tools to Fight Drug Resistance: New Drugs 88

5.6 Tools to Fight Drug Resistance and Improve Efficacy of Existing Drugs: Drug Combinations 89

5.7 Natural Combinations 94

5.8 Emerging and Re-Emerging Diseases 95

6 Living with Molecular Wilderness 97

6.1 Lessons from Molecular Wilderness 98

6.2 Lessons from Climate Change 99

6.3 Ecological Approaches to Treatment and Management of Infectious Diseases 102

6.4 Need for Transformation to Sustainable Development 103

6.5 Tapping Molecular Wilderness Sustainably 105.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, FL Available via World Wide Web.

Vendor-supplied metadata.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

9789814613606

9814613606

Publisher Number:

99964865117

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.