Hello,
Please carefully
review the instructions and assist me in correcting and expanding the
information accurately. Additionally, kindly provide prompt responses to the
questions. I have prepared an outline for Checkpoint 1, focusing on the disease
AMD. I request that you respond to each question based on my chosen disease,
providing your input as well. As indicated in the feedback, the professor
recognized that the draft was generated by ChatGPT and emphasized the
importance of incorporating my own thoughts and input into the responses.
Therefore, I kindly ask you to refrain from relying solely on ChatGPT and to
support your answers with valid and legitimate sources. Please ensure that the
sources cited can be easily accessed and that the information you present is
genuinely extracted from these sources. I need to verify each part of the
answer using reliable resources. If you have any further questions or require
additional information, please let me know. It is essential that you provide
accurate information regarding technologies, drugs, and approaches, along with
the correct citations, without any form of plagiarism. Thank you in advance for
your valuable assistance.
Assignment
Instructor for check point 1:
The
goal of this exercise is for you to take a “breakthrough” technology and
attempt to apply it to a cell biological problem related to the material
covered in this class. You can choose any recent “breakthrough”
technology. You will develop a plan as to how you might utilize this technology
to develop a new drug, diagnostic test, etc., and formulate your own biotech
company around this plan. Students must meet periodic “checkpoints”
to ensure they are making adequate progress on their projects (see the course
schedule). Final presentations are due as indicated in the course schedule. All
students will also be required to engage in final presentation interaction
activities during the final two weeks of the term.
At
this time, you do not need to decide on the technology/project that will be the
foundation of your start-up company idea yet. You need to present your plan of
how are you going to search for your idea. For example, if you want to develop
a new drug, you need to think about the following items:
1.
Disease/s what you want to fix
2.
Current treatment
3.
How are you planning to improve it?
–
increase the therapeutic window
–
improve the delivery process
–
reduce the side effect
–
increase the efficacy
–
Other options
4.
How are you going to do it?
–
What technology are you going to use (again – I do not need technology now). It
will depend on #3
–
Where are you going to search for this technology?
Examples:
Scientific papers, biotech news, off-field approach (for example, use a
delivery system from the agriculture field and apply it to a drug delivery).
5.
Competition
6.
Your first step
MY Draft for check point 1 :
1.
Disease: Age-related
macular degeneration (AMD):
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a crippling
disorder that causes permanent blindness in those over the age of 50. This
complicated illness is the major cause of visual loss in this age group right
now. To better understand the numerous mechanisms involved in the development
and progression of AMD, scientists have been performing genetic,
epidemiological, and molecular research. These studies have demonstrated that
the lipid-cholesterol pathway is involved in the pathogenesis of the illness.
AMD has genetic and environmental risk factors in common
with other degenerative illnesses that typically affect the elderly, including
cardiovascular disease (CVD). The link between AMD and lipid metabolism genes
has been widely researched, as has the link between AMD and different
cardiovascular abnormalities (Pennington & DeAngelis, 2016).
2. Current treatment:
·
Intravitreal
injections of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) drugs, such as ranibizumab,
bevacizumab, and aflibercept. These drugs help to reduce abnormal blood vessel
growth and leakage in the retina (Hubschman, 2009).
·
Photodynamic
therapy (PDT) – This treatment
involves injecting a light-activated drug into the bloodstream, followed by
shining a laser light onto the affected area to destroy abnormal blood vessels
(Wormald et al., 2007).
·
Laser
photocoagulation – This procedure
uses a laser to seal leaking blood vessels (Virgili & Bini, 2004).
3. Plan to improve treatment:
Expand the Therapeutic Window
Create medications or treatment regimens that attack AMD at
an early stage, before major vision loss develops.
Identify and intervene at novel molecular targets or
pathways implicated in AMD development.
Enhance the Delivery Process:
To minimize injection frequency while maintaining
therapeutic medication levels, develop sustained-release formulations or other
modes of administration.
Investigate nanotechnology-based delivery methods (for
example, nanoparticles and liposomes) to increase medication stability,
bioavailability, and targeted distribution to damaged tissues.
Reduce Adverse Effects:
Develop specialized and focused medicines that exclusively
influence the pathogenic processes linked with AMD while leaving healthy
tissues alone.
Optimize medicine doses and monitoring methods to reduce
side effects.
Boost Efficiency:
Create combination medicines that target several mechanisms
implicated in AMD etiology.
Combine anti-VEGF medications with other treatments (e.g.,
anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective) to improve overall therapeutic efficacy.
Other options include:
Investigate regenerative medicine ways to repair or replace
damaged retinal cells caused by AMD, such as stem cell treatment or gene
therapy.
4. The specific technology to be used will depend on the
chosen approach. Possible technologies could include:
a. Nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems – Utilizing nanoparticles or
nanoscale carriers to enhance drug stability, improve bioavailability, and
enable targeted delivery to the affected area (Yang et al., 2021).
b. Gene therapy – Utilizing viral vectors or
other methods to deliver therapeutic genes to the retina and modulate the
expression of genes involved in the disease process (Moore et al., 2017).
c. Stem cell therapy – Investigating the potential of
using stem cells to replace damaged retinal cells or provide trophic support to
the existing cells (O’Neill et al., 2020).
The search for these technologies can be conducted through
various sources, such as scientific papers, biotech news, conferences, and
collaborations with research institutions working on related fields.
5. Competition:
There is fierce rivalry among researchers, pharmaceutical
corporations, and biotech firms in the field of age-related macular
degeneration. Several firms are currently exploring novel medicines and
medication delivery systems in order to increase patient treatment choices.
Among the businesses active in this field are Genentech, Novartis, Regeneron
Pharmaceuticals, and Spark Therapeutics.
6. The first step would be to perform a
thorough examination of the existing literature, scientific publications, and
clinical trial databases to get a full grasp of the current level of research
and available technologies in the field of age-related macular degeneration.
This would aid in the identification of knowledge gaps and prospective areas
for development. Additionally, exploring collaborations with experts and
institutions specializing in ophthalmology and vision research would provide
valuable insights and potential partnerships for advancing the development of
improved treatments.
Instructor Feedback
and the questions needed to be answered for checkpoint 2 :
Based on the style of
your answer, I have a feeling that ChatGPT generated it. ChatGPT is an
excellent tool for a draft of your work, but you need to include your thoughts
and input.
For Checkpoint 2, you need to provide the following information:
1. Choose one
improvement of the current treatment you want to focus on. You need to justify
your choice. I need to have your opinion about it.
2. Pick one technology for the chosen focus
(in #1). You need to justify your choice.
You can look at the recent
progress of gene therapy for AMD.
Please provide your input and thoughts for Checkpoint 1 and answer the two questions provided in Checkpoint 2, based on the instructions given by the instructor.