Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Because bacteria can mutate faster than pharmaceutical firms can create engineered antibiotics,
newly introduced antibiotics have shorter useful lifetimes than their predecessors. Clinicians attempt
to minimize the growing of resistant strains of bacteria by using analogs of penicillin and other first-
generation antibiotics whenever possible. However, because antibioticresistant bacteria are
increasing in relative numbers, more powerful drugs have to be introduced to the market frequently.
For example, the cephalosporin class of synthetic antibiotics has a much wider spectrum of activity
against pathogens than penicillin and its derivatives.
Synthetic, engineered antibiotics such as the cephalosporins are resistant to the penicillinases
produced by penicillin-resistant bacteria and are therefore useful in treating bacterial infections that
don't respond to penicillin derivatives. However, bacteria are also developing resistance to the
cephalosporins. In addition, these later-generation antibiotics also tend to have more significant side
effects than penicillin-based drugs. For example, common side effects of cephalosporins range from
stomach cramps, nausea, and vomiting, to headache, fainting, and difficulty breathing.
Molecular biologists are in a constant time-limited battle with mutating bacteria. One of the latest
trends in the pharmaceutical industry is the synthesis of drugs that interfere with the bacteria at
multiple sites. As a result, for a pathogen to survive, it must develop multiple mutations in one
generation—an unlikely event. A dual-site antibiotic interferes with two or more processes that not
only function independently within the bacteria but aren't linked in any way. However, developing
these next-generation antibiotics requires the use of new visualization techniques, simulations, and
other computationally intensive processes—as well as the data on a pathogen's nucleotide sequence.
The relevance and relatedness of the pharmaceutical industry's rush to bring product to market to
address bacterial resistance and other issues can be appreciated from an information flow
perspective.
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