Taking you from basic pre-screening target selection to genetic modeling and valuable data integration, this book examines experimental methods, modeling, and computational techniques used to accelerate the drug target discovery process and assess the functionality of potential targets more effectively. World-renowned researchers from industry and academia cover many topics not found in most informatics books, including functional annotation, siRNA design, pathways, text mining, ontologies, systems biology, database management, data pipelining, and pharmacogenomics. The book also details the use of human simulation models and BioIT hardware for supporting in silico research.

Considerably cheaper than doing actual in vivo or in vitro experiments, in silico analysis involves having a computer think about what might happen given this or that set of circumstances. Contributors mostly from drug companies, but also some universities, describe how such techniques are used to identify and validate potential targets for drugs, and explain how the available computational tools and databases are used within each step. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

The pharmaceutical industry relies on numerous well-designed experiments involving high-throughput techniques and in silico approaches to analyze potential drug targets. These in silico methods are often predictive, yielding faster and less expensive analyses than traditional in vivo or in vitro procedures.

In Silico Technologies in Drug Target Identification and Validation addresses the challenge of testing a growing number of new potential targets and reviews currently available in silico approaches for identifying and validating these targets. The book emphasizes computational tools, public and commercial databases, mathematical methods, and software for interpreting complex experimental data. The book describes how these tools are used to visualize a target structure, identify binding sites, and predict behavior. World-renowned researchers cover many topics not typically found in most informatics books, including functional annotation, siRNA design, pathways, text mining, ontologies, systems biology, database management, data pipelining, and pharmacogenomics.

Covering issues that range from prescreening target selection to genetic modeling and valuable data integration, In Silico Technologies in Drug Target Identification and Validation is a self-contained and practical guide to the various computational tools that can accelerate the identification and validation stages of drug target discovery and determine the biological functionality of potential targets more effectively.

In a world of high-throughput laboratory approaches in drug discovery, genomics, and proteomics, there is a need to perform in silico analyses of potential targets. In order to address this research challenge, this book focuses on the available computational tools and databases and how they are used within each step. Specifically, the book covers such timely areas as functional annotation, gene expression analysis, pathways, text mining, ontologies, systems biology, database management, data pipelining, and pharmacogenomics. Examples are given to illustrate the use of a particular technology, and recommended books, journal articles, and Web sites are also included.