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Bioethics are usually associated with ethical issues that emerge from advances in medical sciences and practices. These basically include the ethical guidelines that should be followed during any research or medical procedure or practice that is to be conducted. The genetic material present in the form of DNA, which encodes guidelines for cellular life, is termed as genome. Genome of many organisms has been sequenced completely and with this genetic manipulation is possible. To characterize and manipulate the genome many techniques and procedures have been developed like Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) and genome editing respectively. Some other techniques that come under the umbrella of functional genomics generate huge amount of data that can be characterized and manipulated according to the requirement. These new procedures and approaches have raised many ethical concerns and issues that are being addressed in this review.

Enhancement of glycolysis and glutaminolysis are the two most common modalities associated with metabolic reprogramming in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This enhancement is concomitant to the upregulation of hexokinase 2 (HK2) and glutaminase 1 (GLS1). Hence, the current study was undertaken to identify potential phytobiological inhibitors against HK2 and GLS1, from Dracaena (Sansevieria) trifasciata, an indigenous ethnomedicinal plant found in Pakistan, using computational analysis. Phytobiologics from Dracaena trifasciata were assessed for their ability to co-inhibit HK2 and GLS1 via molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations. The results underscored seven phytobiologics with promising binding affinities for both HK2 and GLS1. Molecular dynamics simulations further elucidated that all seven identified phytobiologics inhibited HK2 by forming stable complexes but only five amongst the seven had the potential to form stable complexes with GLS1 in real time, thereby implying the potential of co-inhibition for these five compounds. Compound 28MS exhibited an equally strong binding profile for both HK2 (−8.19 kcal/mol) and GLS1 (−8.99 kcal/mol). Furthermore, it exhibited a similar trend in stability during simulation for both targets. Our results serve as a primer for a more lucid understanding towards co-inhibition of HK2 and GLS1 using multiple computational approaches. The identified phytobiologics should undergo in-vitro and in-vivo validation to corroborate their therapeutic potential in RA.

Cell-to-cell heterogeneity within a cell population having isogenic properties is a prevalent phenomenon that ascends from stochastic expression of genes, proteins, and metabolites. To broaden the understanding of the regulation of gene transcription, cohesive measurement and coanalysis of various types of biological molecules, such as DNA, RNA, and protein, at the level of a single-cell are required. Single-cell omics is a relatively new technology that aims to identify, quantify, and characterize genes, RNA transcripts, proteins, metabolites, and interactions in single-cells. This chapter gives insight into single-cell omics-based advances made in obesity and Type 2 diabetes mellitus research.

The advancement of science and technology has successfully elucidated the distinct nature of cells, paving the way for single-cell omics. Since cells are the functional units of the human body, they make up all the existing systems in the body, so the intricacy of the human immune system is dictated by these very individual cells. The application of single-cell omics to the diverse field of immunology has equipped us to define novel subpopulations of immune cells and the role of existing and newly discovered cells in different maladies. It also bestows on us the power of profound profiling of immune cells, enabling us to take one step further towards understanding this highly complex system of the body, thereby providing us with the hope to fight the most dreadful disorders of the immune system, most especially autoimmunity. This chapter presents the fundamentals of single-cell omics as applied to immunology and discusses some specific applications to several of the most common autoimmune diseases.