18-09-2012, 09:57 AM
Image Processing in Medical Research
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Potential advantages of translocation modulators...
• Drugs are not directed at catalytic sites:
– anticipate fewer side-effects through better
targeting of action
– approach well-validated targets with ‘difficult’
history
– Can potentially target ANY signalling component
where precise cellular location determines function
– Not resticted to single Mode of Action per target.
- Target Location
[anchoring, complex formation]
Target Processes
[nuclear import/export, transport, processing, half-life]
Target Molecular Regulation
[intermolecular and intramolecular interactions]
Fluorescence Microscopy
-The absorption and subsequent re-radiation of light by organic and inorganic
specimens is typically the result of well-established physical phenomena described
as fluorescence.
-The basic function of a fluorescence microscope is to irradiate the specimen with
a desired and specific band of wavelengths, and then to separate the much weaker
emitted fluorescence from the excitation light.
-In a properly configured microscope, only the emission light should reach the eye or
detector so that the resulting fluorescent structures are superimposed with high
contrast against a very dark (or black) background.
-The limits of detection are generally governed by the darkness of the background,
and the excitation light is typically several hundred thousand to a million times
brighter than the emitted fluorescence.
Translocation Assay
• Protein translocations are vital to information flow in signal
transduction
• Assays to identify and screen protein-protein interactions in context, in
mammalian cells
• monitor protein translocations, real-time in live cells
• find potentially useful therapeutic compounds which target
intracellular signal transduction
Multi-Color Confocal Imaging
-confocal microscopy provides
the ability to visualize multiple targets at
the same time
-This provides the user with a wide-range of
approaches to study: 1) cell-cell interactions,
2) selective expression of antigens across a
range of cell types, etc.