Analytical Strategies for the Detection and Quantification of Nano-formulated Antibiotics: Updates and Perspectives

The rapid development of drug resistant micro-organisms is a challenge to the mankind. Nano formulated compounds have proved to be effective strategy to combat bacterial drug resistance. Currently nanoparticulate systems such as nanoantibiotics are getting major attention due to their low inherent toxicity, biodegradability, bioincompatibility and tuneable mechanical characteristics. Nano formulated antibiotics are generally obtained by emulsification and gelification techniques. The effective uses of polymers in encapsulation of antibiotics show enhancement of the efficacy of antibiotics. Combined with techniques like diffraction laser spectroscopy (DLS), electron microscopy (EM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), morphological research of nanoformulated antibiotics are conducted. The detailed study of the polymers used in the preparation of antibiotics nanoparticles as well as their impact on interactions is done by bio-analytical techniques. Antibiotics attached to nanoparticles can avoid the action of enzymes produced by drug resistant bacteria. Nano antibiotics show higher efficacy and bioavailability so a lot of new formulations using nano methods can be developed with the help of bioanalytical techniques. The development as well as the estimation of antibiotics prepared as nano-formulations as per the recent advanced techniques is illustrated in this review.

Practical Techniques in Molecular Biotechnology

Practical Techniques in Molecular Biotechnology intends to familiarise students with the basics of the well-known experiments of molecular biotechnology and related courses like chemical biotechnology and cell biology. The content of the book will be useful in strengthening the basic skills and help students to apply the concepts to real-world problems. This book emphasises important concepts like bioanalytical techniques, biochemical analysis of proteins, recombinant DNA, and protein technology etc. The text will help students to understand the theoretical aspects of the techniques and provide experience with hands-on techniques to demonstrate practical troubleshooting and data analysis. The text is supported with diagrams, data, summaries for the quick recap and appendices with useful protocols and calculation methods.

The role of ligand-binding assay and LC–MS in the bioanalysis of complex protein and oligonucleotide therapeutics

Ligand-binding assay (LBA) and LC–MS have been the preferred bioanalytical techniques for the quantitation and biotransformation assessment of various therapeutic modalities. This review provides an overview of the applications of LBA, LC–MS/MS and LC–HRMS for the bioanalysis of complex protein therapeutics including antibody–drug conjugates, fusion proteins and PEGylated proteins as well as oligonucleotide therapeutics. The strengths and limitations of LBA and LC–MS, along with some guidelines on the choice of appropriate bioanalytical technique(s) for the bioanalysis of these therapeutic modalities are presented. With the discovery of novel and more complex therapeutic modalities, there is an increased need for the biopharmaceutical industry to develop a comprehensive bioanalytical strategy integrating both LBA and LC–MS.

Advancements in practical and scientific bioanalytical approaches to metabolism studies in drug development

Advancement in metabolism profiling approaches and bioanalytical techniques has been revolutionized over the last two decades. Different in vitro and in vivo approaches along with advanced bioanalytical techniques are enabling the accurate qualitative and quantitative analysis of metabolites. This review summarizes various modern in vitro and in vivo approaches for executing metabolism studies with special emphasis on the recent advancement in the field. Advanced bioanalytical techniques, which can be employed in metabolism studies, have been discussed suggesting their particular application based on specific study objectives. This article can efficiently guide the researchers to scientifically plan metabolism studies and their bioanalysis during drug development programs taking advantage of a detailed understanding of instances of failure in the past.

Innovation in bioanalytical strategies and in vitro drug–drug interaction study approaches in drug discovery

Failure to evaluate actual toxicities of investigational molecules in drug discovery is majorly due to inadequate evaluation of their pharmacokinetics. Limitation of conventional drug metabolism profiling procedure demands advancement of existing approaches. Various techniques such as 3D cell culture system, bio microfluidic OoC model, sandwich culture model is in pipeline to be employed at their full potential in drug discovery phase. Although they outweigh the conventional techniques in various aspects, a more detailed exploration of applicability in terms of automation and high throughput analysis is required. This review extensively discusses various ongoing innovations in bioanalytical techniques. The review also proposed various scientific strategies to be adopted for prior assessment of interaction possibilities in translational drug discovery research.

Applications of microcapillary films in bioanalytical techniques

This critical review focuses on the applications of microcapillary films (MCFs) in bioanalytical techniques.

Solution Structures and Dynamic Assembly of the 24-Meric Plasmodial Pdx1–Pdx2 Complex

Plasmodium species are protozoan parasites causing the deadly malaria disease. They have developed effective resistance mechanisms against most antimalarial medication, causing an urgent need to identify new antimalarial drug targets. Ideally, new drugs would be generated to specifically target the parasite with minimal or no toxicity to humans, requiring these drug targets to be distinctly different from the host’s metabolic processes or even absent in the host. In this context, the essential presence of vitamin B6 biosynthesis enzymes in Plasmodium, the pyridoxal phosphate (PLP) biosynthesis enzyme complex, and its absence in humans is recognized as a potential drug target. To characterize the PLP enzyme complex in terms of initial drug discovery investigations, we performed structural analysis of the Plasmodium vivax PLP synthase domain (Pdx1), glutaminase domain (Pdx2), and Pdx1–Pdx2 (Pdx) complex (PLP synthase complex) by utilizing complementary bioanalytical techniques, such as dynamic light scattering (DLS), X-ray solution scattering (SAXS), and electron microscopy (EM). Our investigations revealed a dodecameric Pdx1 and a monodispersed Pdx complex. Pdx2 was identified in monomeric and in different oligomeric states in solution. Interestingly, mixing oligomeric and polydisperse Pdx2 with dodecameric monodisperse Pdx1 resulted in a monodispersed Pdx complex. SAXS measurements revealed the low-resolution dodecameric structure of Pdx1, different oligomeric structures for Pdx2, and a ring-shaped dodecameric Pdx1 decorated with Pdx2, forming a heteromeric 24-meric Pdx complex.