Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology - Volume 6, Issue 1, 2005

Nanotechnology is a technology started as a collection of curiosities (sun screens, stain resistant pans and more). Special properties make nanoparticle so beneficial to medicine, why nanotechnology has entered biotechnological fields so rapidly. Nanostructured material is able to enter cells, cross the blood brain barrier or show a controlled release of drugs from matrix material in the gastrointestinal tract. But the questi Read More

Nanotechnology, or systems/devices manufactured at the molecular level, is a multidisciplinary scientific field undergoing explosive development. A part of this field is the development of nanoscaled drug delivery devices. Nanoparticles have been developed as an important strategy to deliver conventional drugs, recombinant proteins, vaccines and more recently nucleotides. Nanoparticles and other colloidal drug delivery syste Read More

Anti-mRNA and particularly antisense oligonucleotides are molecules able to inhibit gene expression after intracellular penetration being potentially very interesting for the treatment of ocular diseases where growth factors are involved such as ocular scarring diseases or for the inhibition of viral multiplication. In most cases, the site of action of oligonucleotides has shown to be the posterior segment of the eye and these molecule Read More

At the beginning of 21st century, fifty years after discovery of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) double helix structure, scientific world is faced with a great progress in many disciplines of biological research, especially in the field of molecular biology and operating on nucleid acid molecules. Many molecular biology techniques have been implemented successfully in biology, biotechnology, medical science, diagnostics, and many m Read More

Nanotechnology concerns the science of very small particles and deals with both the fundamental aspects of understanding the properties of such nanoparticles and with developing technological applications of nanoparticles. Biomedical and biotechnological applications of nanoparticles have been of special recent research and development interest, with potential applications that include use of nanoparticles as drug (or DNA) Read More

The drug delivery system described here is based on a virus like particle consisting of the recombinant expressed major capsid protein of Polyomavirus, VP1. Polyoma, a murine virus belonging to the Papovaviridae, forms a non-enveloped icosahedral capsid. These capsids are organized as a double shell composed of three different proteins: VP1,VP2 and VP3. The outer shell of the vision is composed of 360 VP1 Read More

The advances in the microelectronics fabrication allow the strong appearance of micro-electro-mechanical systems known as MEMS. MEMS enable the fabrication of smaller devices that are manufactured using standard microfabrication techniques similar to the ones that are used to create computer silicon chips. Several MEMS devices including micro-reservoirs, micro-pumps, cantilevers, rotors, channels, valves, sensors, an Read More

This article is a selective extension of a review on recombinant human erythropoietin (rHu-EPO) as an antianaemic drug, published in this journal in 2000. It summarises the recent advances in understanding the molecular mechanisms by which the hypoxia-inducible transcription factor 1 (HIF-1) regulates O2-dependent genes, including the EPO gene in brain. With respect to brain integrity, EPO exerts positive effects in two differe Read More

Recent advances in biotechnology have promoted biomolecular targeting of drugs, peptides and genes in the treatment and management of major diseases and infections. Therapeutic development of drugs and delivery systems may have various objectives: Systemic drugs require optimal delivery and uptake at target sites; peptide drugs require alternative routes of administration, such as nasal or intestinal absorption; gen Read More