PHAR 737 Midterm 1 Flashcards
Describe the ENCODE project
ENCyclopedia Of DNA Elements
International collaboration of research groups funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute.
Goal is to build a list of functional elements in human genome
How many base pairs, genes and chromosomes comprise the human genome.
3x10^9 base pairs
20,000 genes
23 chromosomes
Define Genome
All the genetic material (DNA) of an organism
Define Genetics
Study of single genes and its effects
Define Genomics
Study of all genes in the genome, including their interactions with environmental factors
Define Pharmacogenetics?
The study of genetic influences on an individual’s response to drugs
Define Pharmacogenomics
The study of all genes collectively that influence drug responses, and how genome-wide analysis may be used to identify such genes in the search for novel drug targets or as key determinants for drug reactions.
Of the 3 billion base pairs in the human genome, how many are variable, how many capture the full human variation, and how many are pharmaceutically relevant?
3 million base pairs are variable
100,000 capture the full human variation.
Less than 10,000 may be relevant to pharmaceutical development.
How are drugs approved?
By trial and error
What do pharmaceutical companies need to specify when it comes to drug action?
A specific population, or else the drug will be abandoned (most likely)
How much does it cost to develop a new drug? How long will it take to launch the drug from patent and when will the patent expire?
Drugs development usually ranges in price from 500 million to 700 million dollars.
Patent to launch is usually around 12 years, and will last 7.
Define efficacy
Patients cured at a given dose .
Define therapeutic Index
Dose range at which drug shows highest efficacy and low toxicity
How prevalent is genetics when looking at US death rates?
9 of 10 deaths in the US have a genetic component
What factors influence drug response?
Gender Age Body mass Diet Presence of other drugs Disease Exposure to certain chemicals or toxins (alcohol, tobacco) Genetic factors
Most diseases are caused by this type of interaction
gene-environment
What main interventions are used for groups that are at high risk of gene-environment interactions caused disease(s)?
Diet
Physical activity
Smoking cessation
Alcohol avoidance
What is an SNP?
Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (or substitution) of one base for another every 1000 nucleotides. SNPs are evolutionarily stable (not changing much between generations)
What is the significance of Mendelian Inherited Diseases?
1200 genes that are currently identified as causing human diseases/traits exhibit inherited phenotype
What is a Transcriptome?
The full range of RNA molecules expressed by an organism or present in a cell at a given time.
Changes in transcriptional activity contributes to a disease.
What is a Proteome?
The entire set of proteins expressed by a genome, organism, cell or tissue at a certain time.
Constantly changing since proteins are continually being synthesized, modified and degraded. Also species and cell-state dependent.
What is the Epigenome?
The epigenome is a series of chemical compounds that can tell the genome what to do.
Epigenomics is the study of changes in the regulation of gene activity and expression that ARE NOT dependent on gene sequence
What is the purpose of Systems Biology?
To connect the molecular characteristics of a disease with pharmacogenomics to deliver a personalized therapy option to a patient.
What is the importance of Simple Viral and Bacterial Genomes?
This is an untapped resource of raw genomic material