A protein based drug has been developed through the
concept of evolution. This drug specifically is targeted to help prevent heart disease.
Specific protein functions were targeted and put through the process of
evolution and time. This process would begin by having a lot of variations of
the targeted cell and then picking the one variant that has evolved the best and
then repeating the process again until you have a protein that carries the
function you want. An international team along with the University of Leicester
and Cambridge has been trying to develop this method to treat heart problems
such as inflammation through the use of these ligand-trap protein. It is said
that these evolutionary engineered proteins have good future applications in
chemicals, pharmaceuticals and agriculture.
This is interesting. How long is this process? When I think of the term evolution, I think of hundreds of years. Interesting nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteWhat a brilliant idea. Humans have been breeding dogs since forever, so why not proteins? I would also have liked to know how long this process takes, without having to click on the link to the article. Interesting nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this protein or different proteins can treat other things besides heart disease?
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting. There are so many different methods of coming about a new treatment; forward genetics, knockout genetics, and now evolutionary engineered proteins.
ReplyDeleteHow do they evolve a protein? It doesn't replicate! Don't make the reader rely on your link for the most essential elements of a story.
ReplyDelete