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Kevin Kershner, pictured above,
is a member of the Transcriptome Analysis (TA) team
at Upper Merion, Pennsylvania. His area of expertise
is robotic automation to profile gene expression patterns
in normal and diseased tissues.
Automation decreases human
interaction and allows the robot to produce samples
in a high-throughput manner. It also frees scientists
to concentrate on other challenges in their research,
ultimately increasing productivity and efficiency in
a shorter time, without compromising data quality.
“Introducing robotic automation to the TA group
will help team members become more effective and more
productive,” said Kevin.
“It will also enable team members to generate
high quality data which will lead to a better understanding
of gene expression and disease.”
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The application of the latest scientific advances to the drug
discovery and development processes will ensure GlaxoSmithKline’s
leadership position. New technology has opened up novel avenues
of research exploring the fundamental bases of health and
disease.
Gene-related research, in particular, presents
an enormous opportunity. Pharmacogenetics identifies genetic
patterns to help predict how individual patients will respond
to medicines. In short, getting the right medicine to the
right patient. Everyone wants more effective and safer medicines
and if we can easily identify which patients respond well
to particular drugs we can use this information to further
refine therapy.
GlaxoSmithKline is also using information gleaned
from the human genome to identify new ways to tackle disease.
By finding out what specific genes do and their role in disease,
we can identify whole new approaches to medicine. Our studies
of the human genome have identified new drug targets for bone
loss and for atherosclerosis, the fundamental pathology behind
most deaths from cardiovascular disease. Therapies directed
against these targets are now in clinical studies.
For all the powerful capabilities that GlaxoSmithKline
has built within its own R&D organisation, we recognise
that we do not have a monopoly on good ideas. To ensure that
we stay at the leading edge of biomedical research, we have
entered into hundreds of collaborations with other companies
and academic and government institutions.
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