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SUMMARY:Genome-Based Drug Discovery and Re-Purposing: a new golden age for
  DNA microarrays? - Dr. Francesco Iorio\, EMBL-EBI
DTSTART:20120201T140000Z
DTEND:20120201T150000Z
UID:TALK36237@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Danielle Stretch
DESCRIPTION:A large number of recent studies wink at the idea that every b
 iological state can be described by a proper gene expression signature: a 
 well defined set of genes together with a pattern of expression linked to 
 it. The underlying concepts are: i) any condition\,(e.g. the activity of a
  given pathway\, a disease phenotype or cellular response to drug treatmen
 t)\, induces some change in transcriptional activity\; ii) even if a singl
 e gene on its own poorly characterizes a biological state of interest\, th
 is ability is significantly improved when considering a set of genes with 
 their combined pattern of expression.\n\nIn this scenario DNA micro-array 
 technology can be deemed as the natural language through which these “bi
 ological-state-summaries” can be generated. Using novel non-parametric g
 enome-wide metrics\, novel drug-to-disease and/or drug-to-drug “connecti
 ons” have been predicted comparing the corresponding gene-expression sig
 natures. Several approaches have been proposed to exploit the massive amou
 nt of publicly available gene-expression data for computational “drug re
 -purposing” (i.e. predicting new therapeutic applications for already ex
 isting drugs).\n\nIn contrast with these methods (very good predictors but
  providing limited mechanistic insight)\, transcriptomic data following dr
 ug treatment have been integrated with pathway maps and protein-protein-in
 teraction networks to infer upstreaming molecular events\, thereby dissect
 ing the mechanisms involved in drug-response. ! We will describe a number 
 of approaches based on the introduced concepts\, highlighting pros and con
 s of each classes of methods. Finally\, we will present some successful ca
 se studies and useful public available tools and resources.\n\nThe talk is
  part of the CCBI seminar series and the DTP graduate course Reviews in Co
 mputational Biology\, but is open to all attendees.\n
LOCATION:MR12\, Centre for Mathematical Sciences\, Wilberforce Road\, Camb
 ridge
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