Marine Bioactive Natural Substances and Bio-Sustainable Production
Discovery of bioactive compounds from marine natural sources (invertebrates, microorganisms) useful for the development of new drugs, cosmetics and/or biotechnology applications. These objectives are achieved primarily through the isolation and spectroscopic characterization of new molecules, and by partial or total synthesis of lead compounds.
Research groups
- NPBiotech
The interest of the NPBiotech research group is directed to the identification and sustainable production by biotechnological methods of new natural products by macro- and micro-sea organism, to be used as lead compounds for the design of new classes of anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory drugs. The biotechnological production of bioactive natural products using their own biosynthetic genes by recombinant technologies, is the exciting new frontier in the study of natural products, in that it promises to overcome the supply problems which have so far prevented their wide practical exploitation.
The key activities for this research can be summarized as follows: isolation and structural elucidation in the microgram scale of bioactive natural products produced by marine organisms, or from their symbiotic microorganisms; study of metagenomes of macro-organisms, or the genomes of microorganisms, for the identification and engineering of the biosynthetic genes of natural products; expression of biosynthetic genes of natural products in heterologous hosts; chemical analysis of cultures of transformed microorganisms and profiling of their secondary metabolites.
- TheBlueChemistryLab
Website: www.facebook.com/BlueChemistryLab
- SIDG
Identification and design of leads for the treatment of cancer, malaria, inflammatory and bacterial diseases.
- NATLEAD
Identification of natural leads from terrestrial and marine sources, aimed at novel therapeutic approaches for human diseases.