Glossary

P

Post-exposure prophylaxis

Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) refers to preventive medical measures taken when a person has had contact with a pathogen. This is intended to prevent the outbreak of the disease or to mitigate its course.

Preclinical tests

In drug development, preclinical tests are carried out to investigate the behavior of novel agents in cell culture or animal models.

Proof-of-Concept

In drug development, “proof-of-concept” refers to a part of the clinical study that aims to proof the therapeutic concept.

Proviruses

A provirus is a virus genome that is integrated into the DNA of a host cell.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a bacterium often causing hospital-acquired infections and being resistant against many antibiotics.

Pulmonary hypertension

Pulmonary hypertension is a condition in which there is high blood pressure in the pulmonary vascular system.

R

Remission

Remission is the disappearance or reduction of disease activity.

Resistance gene

A resistance gene contains the information for the production of a protein that makes an antibiotic ineffective and hence confers resistance against an antibiotic to a pathogen.

Resistome

The term "resistome" describes all antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) associated with a microbiome.

Retroviruses

Retroviruses possess a genome made of ribonucleic acid (RNA), which they transcribe into DNA using an own enzyme. DNA is then integrated into the host cell’s genome.