Artificial intelligence in drug discovery and development.

Artificial intelligence-integrated drug discovery and development has accelerated the growth of the pharmaceutical sector, leading to a revolutionary change in the pharma industry. Here, we discuss areas of integration, tools, and techniques utilized in enforcing AI, ongoing challenges, and ways to overcome them.

[Analysis and Discovery of Functional Biomolecules Using a Combination of Fluorescence Microscopy and Micro- and Nano-devices for Single-molecule Detection].

The author has developed several methodological approaches that use nanophotonic and microfluidic devices to accelerate pharmaceutical research and development. Here, the author describes two of these approaches and provides practical examples. The first is a nanophotonic approach to break the concentration limit of diffusing fluorophore-labeled molecules in single-molecule imaging. Although single-molecule imaging is highly useful in characterizing the kinetics of biomolecular interactions, it requires nanomolar concentrations of labeled molecules in solution. Zero-mode waveguides are nanophotonic structures that reduce the illumination volume by more than three orders of magnitude relative to conventional fluorescence microscopy, thereby allowing single-molecule investigations at micromolar to millimolar concentrations of fluorescent molecules i.e., under near-physiological conditions. The second approach is microfluidic microdroplet-based, allowing the discovery of novel biomolecules with the desired activities. Microfluidics allows the ultrarapid production of monodisperse microdroplets such as water-in-oil microdroplets. Each microdroplet serves as a nano/picoliter-volume test tube, which increases assay sensitivity by increasing the effective concentration of molecules and decreasing the time required to reach detection thresholds. I hope you find this review helpful in your research.

Remote Controlled Autonomous Microgravity Lab Platforms for Drug Research in Space.

Research conducted in microgravity conditions has the potential to yield new therapeutics, as advances can be achieved in the absence of phenomena such as sedimentation, hydrostatic pressure and thermally-induced convection. The outcomes of such studies can significantly contribute to many scientific and technological fields, including drug discovery. This article reviews the existing traditional microgravity platforms as well as emerging ideas for enabling microgravity research focusing on SpacePharma's innovative autonomous remote-controlled microgravity labs that can be launched to space aboard nanosatellites to perform drug research in orbit. The scientific literature is reviewed and examples of life science fields that have benefited from studies in microgravity conditions are given. These include the use of microgravity environment for chemical applications (protein crystallization, drug polymorphism, self-assembly of biomolecules), pharmaceutical studies (microencapsulation, drug delivery systems, behavior and stability of colloidal formulations, antibiotic drug resistance), and biological research, including accelerated models for aging, investigation of bacterial virulence , tissue engineering using organ-on-chips in space, enhanced stem cells proliferation and differentiation.

[Environmental exposure chambers (EEC): A novel tool for pathophysiological and pharmaceutical research]. / Les chambres d'exposition environnementale (CEE) : un nouvel outil dans la recherche académique et industrielle.

Airborne allergic diseases (allergic asthma, rhinitis and conjunctivitis) have reached epidemic proportions and are a great burden for both society and individuals. Therefore we need to better understand the physiopathological mechanisms and to increase clinical research in these diseases. However, traditional outpatient studies are difficult and have number of limitations, in particular the variability of allergen exposure. Yet allergen provocation tests, especially bronchial challenges in asthma, are excellent tools to measure the efficiency of anti-allergic therapies. Environmental exposure chambers (EEC) allow the performance of controlled allergen provocation tests on a large scale with remarkable sensitivity, specificity and reproducibility. Moreover, they allow a precise collection of allergic symptoms, making them interesting tools for patho-physiological and clinical studies. During the last thirty years, they have assisted the study of anti-allergic therapies and provided data on their pharmacodynamic characteristics, particularly in allergic rhinitis. However, there are still no EEC tests centered on asthma. The EEC of Strasbourg (ALYATEC®) was developed to fulfill two objectives: to allow standardized allergenic and non-allergenic exposures with better control of the parameters than in other EEC and to offer a place to study asthma and anti-asthmatic therapies safely.