Home > Science Seminar > Fall 2004 Seminar Schedule > Cancer Drugs From the Sea
The Science Seminar Series: October 7, 2004
Cancer Drugs from the Sea
Thomas Manning, Department of Chemistry, VSU
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, GA, 31698
Place: Powell Hall
Time: 4:00 -5:00pm
Marine natural products (MNP's) are molecules with medicinal value that are extracted from organisms that live in the ocean. Two of the most efficient drugs against certain types of cancer are bryostatin and ET743. The downside to these drugs is their extraordinarily cost (several million dollars per gram), which greatly limits their application. Work in our group has focused on understanding the chemical ecology of the organisms and ecosystems that produce these MNP's and using this information to grow the marine bacteria that produce the MNP. For example, this summer we did a complete chemical analysis of a Florida Keys Mangrove ecosystem that contains Ecteinascidia turbinata, the sea squirt that produces ET743. This chemical data is being used to design a chemical broth that will sustain the microbes. Marine bacteria are notoriously difficult/impossible to culture in the lab. We also recently completely a series of aquaculture experiments in the northern Gulf of Mexico in which we developed and tested an approach to significantly amplified the bacteria that produce bryostatin. We will talk about our current projects and research completed to date.