The combination of genomics and bioinformatics has been highly successful in identifying new drug targets. Genomics, to date, has largely focused on DNA sequencing to discover new genes as a source of new drug targets. Reviews covering advances in DNA sequencing technology, as well as applications to microbiology, are presented in this issue of the Journal. Combinatorial chemistry, reviewed in this issue, is causing a paradigm shift in the drug discovery process, leading to a wealth of new clinical compounds as drug candidates. To supplement combinatorial chemistry, which is a synthetic process, natural sources of new drug templates are constantly pursued.
Higher plants produce a great deal of diverse phytochemicals through secondary metabolism.
A review covering advances in preparative ligand dissomatography of bioactive phytochemicals is also included in this issue. Understanding the function of genes in a disease process and how the gene products might serve as drug targets is important to the prioritization. The application of microarray technology to understand the interaction of multiple genes that are either being turned on or off to promote disease is examined in this issue. Vaccines have been highly successful at preventing and controlling the spread of infectious disease. An emerging technology for improved vaccines eliciting greater host antibody responses is constrained peptides for use as immunogens.