A biological target is a biopolymer such as a protein or nucleic acid whose activity can be modified by an external stimulus. The definition is context-dependent and can refer to the biological target of a pharmacologically active drug compound, or the receptor target of a hormone (like insulin). The implication is that a molecule is "hit" by a signal and its behavior is thereby changed. Biological targets are most commonly proteins such as enzymes, ion channels, and receptors.
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Famous quotes containing the words biological and/or target:
“It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past.... Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and active mythology of its past or of a past borrowed from other cultures. It tests its sense of identity, of regress or new achievement against that past.”
—George Steiner (b. 1929)
“But this we know, the obstacle that checked
And tripped the body, shot the spirit on
Further than target ever showed or shone.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)