sources of medicine Flashcards
how are new drugs produced now
using computer programmes
how did medicines use to be found
plants and microorganisms
eg penecillin (mould)
why keep biodiveristy
not destroy potential source of life saving drug
what is synthetic biology + nanotechnology
genetic engineering to develop bacteria that can produce drugs which are too hard or expensive to produce
eg ecoli gmd to make precursor of antimalarial drug
nanotech - deliver drugs to very specific site within cell
what is personalised medicines
as people have different genomes
some meds better on some people
test genome to identify effectiveness of drugs
eg herceptin best for breast cancer, only if patients cancer has large numbers of this receptor
how does antibotic resistance occur
bacteria and a few random mutation making resistant
antibiotics kill almost all
resistant survive and replicate
resistant strain produced
how do antibiotics work
kill or inhibit growth bacteria
target bacterial enzymes and ribosomes so dont damage human cells
how antibiotics affect bacteria
stop synthesis bacterial cell wall
prevent dna and protein synthesis
why do antibiotics not work on virus
virus no cell structures so antibiotics cannot target them
virus invades orgs own cells
impact antibiotic resistance
MRSA resistant
how reduce antibiotic resistance
only use when needed
use narrow spec antibiotics
complete course
avoid use in farming
