Computers in Drug Research and Development :: Essays Papers

Computers in medicate Research and DevelopmentAs the computer becomes more than and more powerful, its uses and abilities grow. Scientists wee-wee been able to harness this power in to assist them in their goals of researching and evolution medicates for gracious use. Computers can be found in nearly each drug research laboratory and development center in the world.In the process of developing a drug, thousands upon thousands of chemic compounds are tested to be used in laboratory tests and living creature tests. Generally, over 5000 compounds are elect for such testing. Of 5000 chosen compounds, around five will be gratifying for use on humans in testing. Computers play a Brobdingnagian role in the testing and narrowing down of such chemical compounds used in drugs. Models of chemicals and reactions can be computer simulated to eclipse out compounds that would not be acceptable. Using computers in such a way greatly reduces the time spent on lengthy animal testin g, and also ensures that the drugs that do pass will be safe for human testing.Home computers are now being used to aid scientists in drug research as well. One web site, www.FightAidsAtHome.org offers a downloadable course of instruction that uses your home computers idle processes to perform complex computations that aid in acquired immune deficiency syndrome drug research. The results are automatically sent back to the researchers who use them in their developmental process. Such a course of study would have been insignificant decennary years ago, when very few people owned computers powerful affluent to perform the operations needed by researchers today. However, because the internet is so far-flung and because home computers are becoming so powerful, such a course works and works well.One specific use of computers in drug development is a program developed by Art Olson called AutoDock. This program is used to simulate the interactions of proteins in molecules as they meet. Because of the extreme power of todays computers, the program creates extremely accurate results, even though in that location are thousands of factors that determine the final result. Using these simulations, scientists are able to more easily understand how two different molecules will interact, which helps greatly in the drug development process.Many programs similar to AutoDock are used by scientists. Each of these programs are used to determine the outcomes of specific interactions between molecules, chemical compounds and other biological and chemical interactions.