Whereas the traditional process of drug development is long and expensive, simple and rapid bioassays can serve as the starting point for drug discovery. This book presents a range of "bench top" bioassay techniques useful for natural product and pharmaceutical chemists involved in drug discovery and pharmacognosy. The contents detail a number of enzyme-based assays, cell-based functional bioassays and receptor radioligand binding assays along with detailed descriptions of each type. The majority of these bioassays are presented in a step-by-step format, so they could even be implemented by technical personnel with little background in microbiology, biochemistry or pharmacology.

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