4.1.15 Sources of Medicine Flashcards
1
Q
How do we discover new drugs?
A
- Lots of time and money
- Finding candidate genes coding for drugs
- Identifying receptors and hormones and neurotransmitters that fit the drug
- Modifying drugs that already exist
- Identifying useful compounds produced by organisms
2
Q
What are some sources of drugs?
A
- plug
- Bacteria and Fungi
- Plants (why we need to maintain biodiversity)
3
Q
What are personalised medicines?
A
- Medicines that are more targeted and personalised for individuals
- Genomic medicine (medicine prescribed to individuals based off their genome)
- Dividing population into subgroups on how likely they are to respond well to drugs
- Genetic screening to identify genomes
4
Q
What is synthetic biology?
A
- Assembling a genome
- Can be done using existing DNA sequences or by using entirely new ones
- Creates biology
5
Q
What is artemisinin?
A
- A use of synthetic biology
- Antimalarial drug, difficult to produce in any other way
- E.coli and yeast are genetically reprogrammed to produce precursor of drug on a larger scale
