To: btk-mca at net.bio.net
From: athel at IR2CBM.CNRS-MRS.FR (Athel)
Subject: Intelligent drug design
"The entire supplement appears not contain the words "metabolism" or
"metabolic", and appears to display no recognition of the fact that what
cells "do is metabolism and that what drugs are supposed to do is to alter
metabolism. "I suppose the basic assumption is that once you find the
sought-after "competitive inhibitor of the key enzyme and find a way of
delivering it to the
"target cell its effects in vivo are so obvious that they don't need to
"be thought about in advance. Do readers of this News Group find this as
"astonishing as I do? Does it matter? If it does, what can be done about it?
"
"Regards,
"
"Athel
This should be surprising, but in the past years the lack of
interest in energy metabolism has reached such "heights" that young Ph.D.'s
in biology often do not have the faintest idea of how cells take care of
their energy requirements. It is the equivalent of biologists not knowing
anything about DNA other than that it contains genetic information.
It matters a lot because if we don't watch out a complete field
will be abandoned because "it is no longer important". What we should do is
tell anyone who can be forced to listen that energy metabolism is the motor
of the cell and that without it life is impossible (second law of
thermodynamics). In short, we must blow our own trumpets forcefully. I like
to abuse this opportunity by doing so and announce that a seminar on the
"Regulation of energy metabolism" will be held at the coming General
Meeting of the American Society of Microbiology (May 4-8, Miamy Beach). A
large attendance may convince the powers that be that the study of energy
metabolism is still considered worthwile.
Regards,
Benno ter Kuile
