antibiotics and other medicines
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What are the two uses of medicines?
• To cure= the source of the disease is removed from the body • To manage the symptoms to make the patient more comfortable
Name some of the most common medicines
antibitoics (kill bacterial cells) painkillers antifungals anti inflammatories chemotherapy
What are some of the sources of drugs? Give an example
• many medical drugs are manufactured using natural compounds found in plants, animals or micro-organisms e.g penicillin is obtained from a fungus, some cancer drugs are made using soil bacteria
Why do possible sources of drugs need to be protected?
maintaining biodiversity means there is less risk of species dying before we get chance to study them
How can organisms that have already been studied still contribute to the development of new medicines?
New techniques are developed for identifying, purifying and testing compounds
Why are personalised medicines needed?
• your genes determine how your body responds to certain drugs, and different people respond to the same drug in different ways, making some drugs for effective for some people then others • by staying the relationship between someones genetic make up and their responsiveness to drugs, more effective drugs can be produced in the future
What are personalised medicines?
medicines that are tailored to an individual’s DNA. The theory is that if doctors have your genetic information, they can use it to predict how you will respond to different drugs and only prescribe the one that’ll be the most effective to you
What is synthetic biology? Give an example as to where this can be applied to
• Involves using technology to design and make things like artificial proteins, cells, or microorganisms e.g application to medicine- scientists are looking at engineering bacteria to destroy cancer cells, while leaving healthy body cells intact