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Melanesia Experiences in Marine Drug Discovery at University of the South Pacific ”. Prof. B. Aalbersberg and K.-D. Feussner CDDC, IAS, USP. Bioprospecting - Background.
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Melanesia Experiences in Marine Drug Discovery at University of the South Pacific” Prof. B. Aalbersberg and K.-D. Feussner CDDC, IAS, USP
Bioprospecting - Background • 25-50% of western medicines are derived from natural sources (e.g. aspirin, quinine, many anti-cancer agents and anti biotic drugs) • Sales near $800 billion • Process takes 15–20 years and costs $800 million • 1 in 10,000 chance to develop medicine from given organism
Bioprospecting Process - 1 • Permitting • Collecting • Extraction • Bioactivity Testing • Fractionation and Purification • Structure elucidation
Bioprospecting Process - 2 • Organism Identification and Recollection • Structure – Activity Relationships • Toxicology Tests • Clinical Trials • Pray
Microbial Bioprospecting • Plating substrate • Colony Isolation and Purification • Fermentation • Extraction of Ferment • As in macroorganisms
Genetic Material • DNA can be extracted, amplified and sequenced • Sections of genome that are responsible for various functions (diseases, chemical production) can be identified
Work at USP • Permitting • Collecting • Extraction • Bioactivity Testing • Fractionation and Purification • Structure elucidation
Types of Samples • Organism • Extracted chemicals • Extracted DNA
Convention on Biological Diversity and Access and Benefit Sharing • Prior informed consent • Fair agreement on mutually agreed terms • Participation and sharing of benefits • Environmentally sound uses
Types of Benefits • Cash (sample fee and royalties) • Help in resource management • Voucher specimen • Legal review • Participation in work and capacity building • Sharing results • Transfer of technology • Access to biotech outcomes
ABS and Fiji • 1995 Verata Project • Full policy under the Sustainable Development Bill (1997?) • Ad-hoc policies of Forestry (terrestrial) and Fisheries (marine) • Interest of AG’s office • Availability from CBD Secretariat of Model Provisions
USP Marine Collaborations • 1980s UC Santa Cruz (Fiji) • 1990s Utah University (Fiji and Van.), Strathclyde (Verata project) • 2000s Georgia Tech (Fiji), PharmaMar • 2010s Georgia Tech, CRRF (USNIH) (SI), • 2015 Nagoya Fund (SI)
Bioactivity Screens • Antimicrobial (fungi + bacteria – resistant strains) • Anti – cancer test • brine shrimp • cell lines • mechanism based • Others possible, e.g. malaria, dengue, Alzheimer, TB, anti-ageing
Potential role of CDDC in regional program • Repository of collected specimens (Univ Utah, CRRF (NIH), GIT, JIB, GEF) Both, for macrosamples and microbes • Bioprospecting partner • Annual reports to governments