Biomed Unit 1

Basic Research

Research done to gain knowledge on a specific topic. Seeks to understand knowledge and isn’t specified to solve a problem.

Ex. Gregor Mandel studying pea plants.

Applied Research

Directed towards applying knowledge to a specific known problem to find a better solution.

Clinical Research

Information built on applied and basic research. Leads to prevent and cure disease with treatments. Takes place in hospital and clinical settings.

Ex. Long term study that involves brain scans.

Pap tests taken by cervix cells

Phase I of Clinical Trials

Takes one year, a small number of healthy volunteers.

How do drugs interact in the human system?

How a drug is absorbed, distributed, metabolized and excreted in the body

Phase II of Clinical Trials

Takes almost 2 years, involve 100-300 people

Use controlled tests to find effectiveness of drugs

Conducted to continue to assess the safety of the drug

Phase III of Clinical Trials

Takes 3 years, involves 1000-3000 volunteers

Conducted to confirm results of past phases

No side effects, is safe to the general public

Completion of Clinical Trials

Takes about 2.5 years

Confirms with FDA, NDA

Needs to be approved to get labeling and FDA approval

Information gathering

Collecting information, occurs during epidemiological studies and occurs after many years of exposure

Computer simulations

A method scientists use to look for clues and cures to disease. Can predict biological responses and are fast and efficient. Reduces number of animals needed. But…

Cannot replicate lab testing. Equipment + software is expensive. Need to rely on existing data.

Chemical models

A method used to detect a substance or measure potency.

Useful in developing vaccines, vitamins, prescription drugs, etc.

In-Vitro Studies

In petri dishes or test tubes. Scientists can isolate early and intermediate stages of biomed research.

Not expensive, not time consuming,

Animal Model

Animals are the best substitute for humans in tests. It is used for ethical reasons. Animals share similar human structures so scientists can get pretty accurate results. But…

Results may vary for human reactions sometimes. Expensive to house feed and care for animals.

Epidemiology

Study of disease incidence and distribution in a population.

Helps us learn to prevent diseases and what they are.

Experimental epidemiology

Human equivalent of animal testing. Studies are ethical and limited. Part of epidemiology

Descriptive epidemiology

Analyzes data on extent of health problems or conditions in the population.

Trying to find correlation among characteristics, most commonly between countries and smaller regions

Observational epidemiology

Uses data derived from small groups. Case controlled and cohort studies are used. Data is evaluated to determine strength of association of a disease and population.

In-Vivo studies

Involves testing with living subjects like animals, plants or whole cells.

Scientists can evaluate safety and toxicity of a drug in a complex model