Ocean search for medical wonders

Tuesday June 22nd, 2010

A pioneering biodiscovery medical centre that will use the potential of natural resources from the world's oceans to treat diseases such as cancer has opened its doors in Aberdeen.

The £1.6 million University of Aberdeen Marine Biodiscovery Centre will focus on research into the development of new medicines from unique marine organisms.

It is one of only three in Europe dedicated to the exploration of the natural marine resources and one of very few in the world to bring together chemists and biologists to work together on the development of new pharmaceuticals.

Funded by the University's College of Physical Sciences and Development Trust, the centre houses globally unique technology, facilities and state-of-the-art equipment that is part-funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

There is a library that contains hundreds of pure compounds and thousands of extracts from organisms sourced from across the globe - including the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the world's oceans located in the western Pacific Ocean.

Equipment to analyse compounds from marine and other sources includes a magnet that is 250,000 times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field, which will be used to investigate the chemical structure of molecules.

Research already being undertaken there includes:

• Using bacteria sourced from the world's deepest oceans to find compounds to treat bacterial infections and parasitic diseases.
• Obtaining fungi from Fijian coral reef organisms which produce compounds which may be used to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases.
• Using analytical techniques to learn how mammals fight bacterial infections by starving the bacteria of the essential metals they need to thrive.

Professor Ian Diamond, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen, said: "The globally unique technologies and equipment housed in the Marine Biodiscovery Centre will allow our scientists to expand their capabilities in addressing the challenges of developing new products which could advance the treatment of diseases such as cancer."

Professor Marcel Jaspars, Director of the Marine Biodiscovery Centre said: "The creation of the new Marine Biodiscovery Centre is allowing us to advance our research using state-of-the-art technologies, and work towards important new breakthroughs in this crucial area of medical discovery."

Nearly 100 academics and representatives from the pharmaceutical industry from across the globe are meeting at the centre this week for a two-day Marine Biodiscovery Research and Applications symposium.

It will include keynote speeches by world leading experts in the field of biodiscovery, including Professor Dan Morse from the University of California, who has conducted groundbreaking work into how shells are made and how sponges make glass, and Simon Munt from PharmaMar, a pharmaceutical company responsible for bringing a novel marine derived compound into clinical treatment for cancer.

Tags: Pharmaceuticals | UK News | World Health

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