This research focuses on the isolation and structure description of new anticancer, CNS active, and tropical disease agents, plus agrochemicals, from several under-examined groups of Panamanian aquatic microorganisms.
Aims:
1. To collect and culture marine cyanobacteria from Panamanian National Parks, and to produce extracts and reduced complexity fractions suitable for biological assay
2. To collect and culture terrestrial and aquatic cyanobacteria from Panamanian National Parks, and to produce extracts and reduced complexity fractions for biological assay
3. To collect and isolate marine-obligate bacteria from sediment cores and marine snow samples and to produce fermentation extracts for HPLC-MS pre-fractionation and biological assay
4. To evaluate all of the fractions and extracts produced in Aims 1-3 in cancer, CNS, tropical diseases, and agrochemical assays described in AP2, and then use bioassay directed chromatographic strategies to isolate the active compounds
5. To use contemporary methods in NMR and MS to rapidly dereplicate known compounds as well as solve the structures of new natural products
6. To aid in the development of promising lead compounds through synthesis of analogs, re-supply from re-isolation or synthesis, and active collaboration with our industrial partners
7. To train students in the US and Panama in modern natural products chemistry and publish and orally present the findings of our research efforts in high quality publications
Personnel:
* Lena G. Gerwick (Scripps Institution of Oceanography)
* William H. Gerwick (Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute)
* Roger G. Linington (University of California Santa Cruz)
* Kerry L. McPhail (Oregon State University)
* Marcy J. Balunas, postdoctoral fellow with William Gerwick (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, INDICASAT and STRI)
Cecilio Atencio, Chemist
Manuel Grosso, Chemist
Dioxelis Lopez, Chemist |
