FLUORESCENT-PROTEIN BIOSENSORS - NEW TOOLS FOR DRUG DISCOVERY

Recent improvements in target discovery and high-throughput screening have increased the pressure at key points along the drug-discovery pip eline. High-content screening was developed to ease the bottlenecks fo rmed at the target-validation and lead-optimization points, and a new generation of reagents that report on specific molecular processes in living cells (fluorescent-protein biosensors) have been important in i ts development. Creative designs of fluorescent-protein biosensors hav e emerged and been used to measure the molecular dynamics of macromole cules, metabolites and ions. Recent applications of fluorescent-protei n biosensors to biological problems have provided a foundation for the ir use in biotechnology.