The business of exploiting induced pluripotent stem cells.

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) can be exploited for both research and clinical applications. The first part of this review seeks to provide an understanding of the financial drivers and key elements of a successful business strategy that underpin a company focused on developing iPS-related products and services targeted at the research market. The latter part of the review highlights some of the reasons as to why the reprogramming of somatic cells is currently being used to develop cell-based models to screen for small molecules with drug-like properties rather than to develop cell-based regenerative medicines per se.

Regenerative nanomedicines: an emerging investment prospective?

Cells respond to their structural surrounding and within nanostructures exhibit unique proliferative and differentiation properties. The application of nanotechnologies to the field of regenerative medicine offers the potential to direct cell fate, target the delivery of cells and reduce immune rejection (via encapsulation), thereby supporting the development of regenerative medicines. The overall objective of any therapy is the delivery of the product not just into the clinic but also to patients on a routine basis.

Structure-based drug design targeting an inactive RNA conformation: exploiting the flexibility of HIV-1 TAR RNA.

The targeting of RNA for the design of novel anti-viral compounds represents an area of vast potential. We have used NMR and computational methods to model the interaction of a series of synthetic inhibitors of the in vitro RNA binding activities of a peptide derived from the transcriptional activator protein, Tat, from human immunodeficiency virus type 1. Inhibition has been measured through the monitering of fluorescence resonance energy transfer between fluorescently labeled peptide and RNA components.