Pharmaceutical Technologist - September/October 2008 - (Page 8)

News Video games lend their muscle How the power of video games can beat supercomputers New insight into complex biological systems could be gained by harnessing the power responsible for the graphics in video games. A team of researchers from Michigan Technological University (MI, USA) led by Roshan D’Souza, Assistant Professor of mechanical engineering-engineering mechanics, has supercharged agent-based modelling (a computationally massive forecasting technique) by using graphic processing units, which drive the spectacular imagery of the leading video games. The team has been using the modelling technique to study the human immune response to a TB bacterium. The software can create virtual T-cells and macrophages that are the visual reflection of millions of real-time calculations. On a computer screen, the busy specks of immune cells look like 3D animations as they move to contain a TB germ. “I’ve been asked if we ran this on a supercomputer,” says D’Souza, and, even though the model is several orders of magnitude faster than state-of-the-art agent modelling toolkits, he adds that: “We can do it much bigger. This is nowhere near as complex as real life.” The TB model was developed by Denise Kirschner from the University of Michigan and then given to D’Souza’s team that programmed it into a graphic processing unit. Kirschner says that agent-based modelling hasn’t replaced test tubes, but it does offer significant advantages. “You can create a mouse that’s missing a gene and see how important that gene is,” she says, “but with agentbased modelling we can knock out two or three genes at once.” “With a $1400 (€971) desktop we can beat a computing cluster,” says D’Souza. “We are effectively democratizing supercomputing and putting these powerful tools into the hands of any researcher.” www.admin.mtu.edu Do didgeridoos top sleep drugs? Could traditional medicines for sleep problems be replaced by the didgeridoo? According to a study published in the BMJ, practising the indigenous Australian wind instrument for 25 minutes a day can help strengthen the upper airways and provide better sleep for sufferers of apnoea, which causes the throat to close and breathing to stop, waking the patient. Martin King, Sleep Medicine Expert at LCG Bioscience (UK) says there is considerable interest in novel ways to tackle sleep problems. “At any one time it is estimated that 30–35% of the population is suffering from insomnia, but people are reluctant to use medication because of fears of side-effects or dependency. We have recently established a dedicated facility at LCG to support sleep studies. There are a number of technologies entering the market that may provide a more objective measure of real behaviour and sleep patterns than the traditional sleep diaries.” www.lcg-bioscience.co.uk Plant cells to medicines A huge EU research project aims to turn plant cells into medical factories. By controlling the cell metabolism of a ‘green factory’ (i.e., a living cell) it is possible to affect the production of desired high-value compounds. This type of metabolic engineering also stimulates the cells towards producing completely new compounds. The 4-year SmartCell project, coordinated by the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, will focus on developing methods for the production of valuable compounds, such as terpene, which are used in the treatment of cancer and malaria, using plant cells as a production host in an effective and controlled manner. “The opportunities offered by plant biology could be much more extensively exploited in the pharmaceutical industry,” says Kirsi-Marja Oksman-Caldentey, Project Coordinator and Chief Research Scientists of VTT. “The latest research methods can be used to intensify the production of valuable agents in plant cells; in a manner of speaking, plant cells could become real ‘green factories’.” www.vtt.fi 8 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2008 PHARMACEUTICAL TECHNOLOGIST MIXA/Getty Images http://www.admin.mtu.edu http://www.lcg-bioscience.co.uk http://www.vtt.fi

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Pharmaceutical Technologist - September/October 2008 Contents Industry Highlights Morpheus Market Watch Smoke and Mirrors Reducing Data Burdens Keeping it Simple Bringing Pharma Up to Date

Pharmaceutical Technologist - September/October 2008

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