Aptamer

SPECIFIC AIMS c-di-GMP is a secondary messenger which plays a vital role in the regulation of motility, virulence, biofilm formation and cell development of micro-organisms1-8. The number of genes involved in the c-di-GMP signaling pathway, the lack of knowledge about the signal that drives the pathway and the lack of complete information from a single organism are the current challenges. Most of the information is from gram-negative organisms, whereas the information about this molecule in gram-positive

TITLE: Gene Silencing – Current Approaches and Relevance for Drug Discovery NEW TITLE: OUTLINE: Abstract Gene silencing is an evolving field that holds great promise for personalized drug discovery. The ability to interfere with mutated genes gives rise to the possibility of shutting down disease causing mechanisms and the advent of personalized drugs for specific diseases. The prospect of easily silencing genes in the lab for functional genomic studies has not fully crossed over into the

INTRODUCTION Drug delivery Systems Drug delivery systems (DDS) have been developed in order to control pharmacological parameters such as bioavailability, biodistribution and pharmacokinetics of the administered substances. Bioavailability is defined as the percentage of an administered dose of therapeutic agent that becomes available in the systemic circulation in its active form. Drug delivery systems can enhance bioavailability by increasing in-vivohalf-lives of fragile pharmaceuticals e.g. protection