Taking chance out of drug discovery

Chance and the prepared mind in drug discovery

Chance and accidents play important roles in scientific discoveries, but they are not blind luck. Serendipity is not merely stumbling on things unsought for, it is the ability to see significances and find values in the things stumbled upon. Without this ability, accidents do not lead to discoveries, as Pasteur observed: “Chance favors the prepared mind.” What are the characteristics of a prepa...

Taking a chance on epigenetics

Epigenetics has become the indispensable science for understanding the geneenvironment relationships that control risk exposure, therapeutic response, and disease progression. Despite the importance of the field, not all scientists agree on how even to define epigenetics (Dupont et al., 2009); some, like me, restrict epigenetics to events that happen at the gene level, such as DNA methylation a...

Taking the stress out of individualizing ADHD drug therapy.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by 3 core symptoms: inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.1,2 The presence and severity of these symptoms vary and characterize the 3 subtypes of ADHD: predominantly inattentive (10% to 20%), predominantly hyperactive or impulsive (5% to 10%), and combined inattentive and hyperactive (70% to 80%).3,4 Children with ADHD might...

Ethnobotany, Ethnopharmacology and Drug Discovery

     This manuscript is a review of a number of ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology texts and papers in order to arrive at current understanding and scope of ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology. It includes either a brief definition of both fields and presenting some examples on them. Also it has a glimpse on the geographical coverage of research works throughout the world, important issue of prope...

Chance, design and discovery.