Symposium 1997: Abstract for A Campbell

Symposium 1997: Abstracts

Lighting up the Chemistry of Living Cells: Commercial Potential and Applications

Prof Anthony Campbell
University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff, Wales

Genetic engineering of bioluminescent and fluorescent proteins combined with photon counting imaging, provides a new and unique technology for drug discovery. It has applications to all living cells - animals, plants and microbes. It also has potential in the agriculture and leisure markets. The key is the ability to target bioluminescent indicators to specific cell types and to organelles within them. For the first time chemical events can be visualised, not only within single cells but also in whole organs or organisms. This provides unique insights into the effects of environmental stress and in the identification of drug targets. It also provides a rapid technique for screening new compounds which are aimed at the targets.