Current Projects

Marine invertebrates such as corals and sponges have proven to be a prolific source of novel therapeutic agents, often with biomedical action superior to that of existing pharmaceuticals.  Indeed, drug discovery from marine organisms is now a major focus of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries as a number of marine-derived chemicals complete clinical development and are poised to become the next generation of drugs.  While there is great interest in the prospects of this field, excitement is tempered by a growing problem that is not unfamiliar to the pharmaceutical industry.  The problem is a question of the supply.  When Taxol^®, currently one of the most efficacious chemotherapies for breast and ovarian cancers, was recently approved by the FDA, there was no source of the natural product except from the extraction of large quantities of tree bark of the Pacific Yew.  The environmental and economic concerns associated with this “crisis” ultimately led to the development of efficient production methods of Taxol^®. 

One primary goal of our laboratory is to develop appropriate production methods of marine pharmaceuticals.  Current projects include the pseudopterosins, anti-inflammatory agents from the sea whip Pseudopterogorgia elisabethae, eleutherobin, an anticancer agent from the soft coral Erythropodium caribaeorum and oroidin, an alkaloid produced in a variety of sponges.

Specific aims of student’s (graduate and undergraduate) and post doctoral researcher’s include:

·      the elucidation of biosynthetic pathways using labeled substrates

·      purifying enzymes catalyzing key transformations

·      cloning biosynthetic genes using cDNA libraries and Differential Display

·      the use of biocatalysis to complete key transformations 

·      identification of the cellular origin of natural product biosynthesis

·      identification of factors to induce marine natural product biosynthesis

Pseudopterosin / Eleutherobin / Oroidin