Bruker Optics Inc.
19 Fortune Drive
Billerica, MA, 01821
Website: http://www.brukeroptics.com
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Infrared Spectroscopy In Drug Discovery
Bruker Optics Inc. now offers a variety of new applications for supporting drug discovery, ranging from the molecular to the cellular level, based on new accessories and infrared technology. This new concept is called "Infrared Fingerprinting". Since every molecule has a unique infrared fingerprint, pattern recognition methods can easily distinguish and identify those fingerprints based on reference databases. Single molecule species can be identified as well as an entire cell containing a unique composition of biomolecules. If combined with statistics software, these infrared fingerprints allow the identification of bacteria down to the species and even the strain level. Similar approaches can be used to discover the effect of anti-cancer drugs on cultured cells or systems in-vivo. The effect of protein expression can be studied, and the state of a protein in inclusion bodies inside a cell that is manufacturing a specific protein can be monitored. In less complex systems the effect of different ligands on target proteins can be classified and then investigated at the cellular level. If antibiotic research is the main target, infrared spectroscopy can identify the pathway of a known drug mechanism and compare it with that of an unknown substance, potentially leading to the discovery of a new drug mechanism.
Many different spectroscopy tools are involved in this approach, ranging from simple spectroscopy of cells utilizing advanced accessories to dedicated infrared microscopy of tissues. High throughput screening in infrared spectroscopy and infrared imaging permit the analysis of sample quantities often required in such studies. Breakthroughs in signal-to-noise levels of new instrumentation and detection systems allow the reduction of sample volume and sample concentrations for many applications.
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