FAU Harbor Branch awarded grant for pancreatic cancer research

Posted On: April 26, 2013

Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI) Marine Biomedical and Biotechnology Research Program (MBBR) scientists have been awarded a $345,716 grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to identify marine natural products for their potential use in the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

A primary mission for the MBBR is to discover marine natural products that can be used as medicines or as tools to better understand the molecular basis of disease. MBBR has identified over 100 marine natural products with cancer fighting properties.

One current focus is to find potential treatments for pancreatic cancer, the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Pancreatic cancer has a 5-year survival rate of 6 percent, highlighting the need for new treatments.

Principal Investigator Dr. Esther Guzmán and co-investigator Dr. Amy Wright, director of the MBBR, plan to initiate a screening effort to discover inhibitors of the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) in pancreatic cancer cells using HBOI’s unique library of marine natural products. RAGE has emerged as an important regulator of inflammatory, stress and cell survival pathways, which contribute to the aggressiveness of pancreatic cancer.

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Marine Drugs, Volume 11, Issue 3 (March 2013), Pages Pages 581-974 Now Available

Posted On: April 3, 2013

MDPI has announced the  publication of the following issue:

Mar. Drugs, Volume 11, Issue 3 (March 2013), Pages Pages 581-974

 

Table of Contents:

Ophelia Han
Editorial: Marine Drugs Best Paper Award 2013
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 581-583; doi:10.3390/md11030581
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/581/

Marco Pelin, Sabrina Boscolo, Mark Poli, Silvio Sosa, Aurelia Tubaro and Chiara Florio
Article: Characterization of Palytoxin Binding to HaCaT Cells Using a Monoclonal Anti-Palytoxin Antibody
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 584-598; doi:10.3390/md11030584
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/584/

Jean-Baptiste Gallé, Barthélémy Attioua, Marcel Kaiser, Anne-Marie Rusig, Annelise Lobstein and Catherine Vonthron-Sénécheau
Article: Eleganolone, a Diterpene from the French Marine Alga Bifurcaria bifurcata Inhibits Growth of the Human Pathogens Trypanosoma brucei and Plasmodium falciparum
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 599-610; doi:10.3390/md11030599
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/599/

Soohyun Um, Yuna Pyee, Eun-Hee Kim, Sang Lee, Jongheon Shin and Dong-Chan Oh
Article: Thalassospiramide G, a New γ-Amino-Acid-Bearing Peptide from the Marine BacteriumThalassospira sp.
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 611-622; doi:10.3390/md11030611
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/611/

Gerrit Gerwig, Henry Hocking, Reto Stöcklin, Johannis Kamerling and Rolf Boelens
Review: Glycosylation of Conotoxins
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 623-642; doi:10.3390/md11030623
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/623/

Anna Carbone, Barbara Parrino, Paola Barraja, Virginia Spanò, Girolamo Cirrincione, Patrizia Diana, Armin Maier, Gerhard Kelter and Heinz-Herbert Fiebig
Article: Synthesis and Antiproliferative Activity of 2,5-bis(3′-Indolyl)pyrroles, Analogues of the Marine Alkaloid Nortopsentin
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 643-654; doi:10.3390/md11030643
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/643/

Diego Orts, Steve Peigneur, Bruno Madio, Juliana Cassoli, Gabriela Montandon, Adriano Pimenta, José Bicudo, José Freitas, André Zaharenko and Jan Tytgat
Article: Biochemical and Electrophysiological Characterization of Two Sea Anemone Type 1 Potassium Toxins from a Geographically Distant Population of Bunodosoma caissarum
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 655-679; doi:10.3390/md11030655
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/655/

Heidi Hannon and William Atchison
Review: Omega-Conotoxins as Experimental Tools and Therapeutics in Pain Management
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 680-699; doi:10.3390/md11030680
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/680/

Zhi-Qiang Xiong, Jian-Feng Wang, Yu-You Hao and Yong Wang
Review: Recent Advances in the Discovery and Development of Marine Microbial Natural Products
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 700-717; doi:10.3390/md11030700
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/700/

Xiaohong Wang, Heinz Schröder, Qingling Feng, Florian Draenert and Werner Müller
Review: The Deep-Sea Natural Products, Biogenic Polyphosphate (Bio-PolyP) and Biogenic Silica (Bio-Silica), as Biomimetic Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering: Fabrication of a Morphogenetically-Active Polymer
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 718-746; doi:10.3390/md11030718
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/718/

José Vázquez, Isabel Rodríguez-Amado, María Montemayor, Javier Fraguas, María González and Miguel Murado
Review: Chondroitin Sulfate, Hyaluronic Acid and Chitin/Chitosan Production Using Marine Waste Sources: Characteristics, Applications and Eco-Friendly Processes: A Review
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 747-774; doi:10.3390/md11030747
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/747/

Zenglei Wang, Hua Tang, Pan Wang, Wei Gong, Mei Xue, Hongwei Zhang, Taofang Liu, Baoshu Liu, Yanghua Yi and Wen Zhang
Article: Bioactive Polyoxygenated Steroids from the South China Sea Soft Coral, Sarcophyton sp.
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 775-787; doi:10.3390/md11030775
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/775/

Chi-Jen Tai, Jui-Hsin Su, Chiung-Yao Huang, Ming-Shyan Huang, Zhi-Hong Wen, Chang-Feng Dai and Jyh-Horng Sheu
Article: Cytotoxic and Anti-Inflammatory Eunicellin-Based Diterpenoids from the Soft Coral Cladiella krempfi
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 788-799; doi:10.3390/md11030788
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/788/

Nils Jansen, Birgit Ohlendorf, Arlette Erhard, Torsten Bruhn, Gerhard Bringmann and Johannes Imhoff
Article: Helicusin E, Isochromophilone X and Isochromophilone XI: New Chloroazaphilones Produced by the Fungus Bartalinia robillardoides Strain LF550
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 800-816; doi:10.3390/md11030800
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/800/

Ganjun Yuan, Kui Hong, Haipeng Lin, Zhigang She and Jia Li
Article: New Azalomycin F Analogs from Mangrove Streptomyces sp. 211726 with Activity against Microbes and Cancer Cells
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 817-829; doi:10.3390/md11030817
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/817/

Victoria Suárez-Ulloa, Juan Fernández-Tajes, Vanessa Aguiar-Pulido, Ciro Rivera-Casas, Rodrigo González-Romero, Juan Ausio, Josefina Méndez, Julián Dorado and José Eirín-López
Article: The CHROMEVALOA Database: A Resource for the Evaluation of Okadaic Acid Contamination in the Marine Environment Based on the Chromatin-Associated Transcriptome of the Mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 830-841; doi:10.3390/md11030830
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/830/

Xiuli Xu, Liyuan Yin, Lijie Gao, Junhai Gao, Junhui Chen, Jingxi Li and Fuhang Song
Article: Two New Bromophenols with Radical Scavenging Activity from Marine Red AlgaSymphyocladia latiuscula
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 842-847; doi:10.3390/md11030842
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/842/

M. Rashid, Somayeh Mahdavi and Serdar Kuyucak
Review: Computational Studies of Marine Toxins Targeting Ion Channels
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 848-869; doi:10.3390/md11030848
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/848/

Chao-Yan Zhang, Ting Kong, Wen-Hui Wu and Min-Bo Lan
Article: The Protection of Polysaccharide from the Brown Seaweed Sargassum graminifoliumagainst Ethylene Glycol-Induced Mitochondrial Damage
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 870-880; doi:10.3390/md11030870
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/870/

María Hortigüela and J. Wall
Article: Improved Detection of Domoic Acid Using Covalently Immobilised Antibody Fragments
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 881-895; doi:10.3390/md11030881
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/881/

Yutaka Hata, Shikshya Timalsina and Sainawaer Maimaiti
Review: Okadaic Acid: A Tool to Study the Hippo Pathway
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 896-902; doi:10.3390/md11030896
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/896/

Ying-Qing Wang and Ze-Hong Miao
Review: Marine-Derived Angiogenesis Inhibitors for Cancer Therapy
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 903-933; doi:10.3390/md11030903
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/903/

Camila Lehnhardt Pires, Selma Rodrigues, Daniel Bristot, Henrique Gaeta, Daniela de Oliveira Toyama, Wladimir Lobo Farias and Marcos Toyama
Article: Evaluation of Macroalgae Sulfated Polysaccharides on the Leishmania (L.) amazonensisPromastigote
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 934-943; doi:10.3390/md11030934
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/934/

Maria Serova, Armand de Gramont, Ivan Bieche, Maria Riveiro, Carlos Galmarini, Miguel Aracil, José Jimeno, Sandrine Faivre and Eric Raymond
Article: Predictive Factors of Sensitivity to Elisidepsin, a Novel Kahalalide F-Derived Marine Compound
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 944-959; doi:10.3390/md11030944
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/944/

Ling-Yan Dong, Jie Jin, Gao Lu and Xiao-Li Kang
Article: Astaxanthin Attenuates the Apoptosis of Retinal Ganglion Cells in db/db Mice by Inhibition of  Oxidative Stress
Mar. Drugs 2013, 11(3), 960-974; doi:10.3390/md11030960
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/11/3/960/

 

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Biotec Pharmacon subsidiary awarded NOK 5 million research grant

Posted On: February 24, 2013

ArcticZymes AS, a subsidiary company of Biotec Pharmacon ASA, has received a grant of NOK 5 million from the The Research Council of Norway, for a project titled “Functionalization of enzymes from marine bioprospecting”. The total project budget is NOK approx. 10 million over 3 years.

The project is a user driven innovation project which aims to accelerate the commercialization of new functionalized enzyme solutions in the Bioprospecting program under The Research Council’s Biotek2021 initiative.

ArcticZymes’ enzyme portfolio is expanding quickly, primarily due to the progress of strategic partnerships with MabCent, MARZymes and others, and results from the ongoing InnoZymes project which received funding from The Research Council’s Functional Genomics in Norway (FUGE) program in April 2011

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Marine Biotechnology in the European Research: Challenges and Opportunities for Europe

Posted On: February 24, 2013

The final conference of the CSA MARINEBIOTECH project will bring together scientists, industry representatives, policy makers/advisors and other key stakeholders involved or interested in Marine Biotechnology research in Europe, to

-          Provide insight in some of the most important recent and ongoing Marine Biotechnology research, coordination and policy projects and initiatives, including the CSA MARINEBIOTECH project, and look forward towards a future MARINEBIOTECH ERA-NET;

-          Discuss the status and recent progress of European Marine Biotechnology research efforts and capacity at various scales;

-          Identify critical needs, gaps and challenges to inform future Marine Biotechnology policy and coordination efforts.

FIRST NOTICE AND CALL FOR SYMPOSIA IMBC 2013

Posted On: December 4, 2012

10th International Marine Biotechnology Conference
Genome to phenome: understanding to sustainable use

Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre from 11-15 November 2013.

The International Marine Biotechnology Conference is the premier meeting in marine biotechnology and micro-biotechnologies. Dating back to 1989, previous IMBCs have been held in Japan (twice), The United States of America, Norway, Italy, Australia, Canada, Israel, China and Australia.

The 10th IMBC will showcase leading-edge developments in marine biotechnologies, from algal biotechnologies through to whole-organism biotechnologies and the application of marine genomics, metagenomics and chemistry in biomedicine, bioprocessing and aquaculture. Sustainable policies and practices will be at the fore throughout the conference.

Over the coming months further details about this meeting will come available, including a list of international plenary speakers and details on specific symposia. Along with this information, will be details on the registration, abstract submissions and trade displays.

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Marine bioprospecting – a role for bioresource centers in the 21st century

Posted On: November 19, 2012

Marine bioprospecting – a role for bioresource centers in the 21st century. A presentation by Dr Willie Wilson (Director of National Center for Marine Algae and Microbiota, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, USA) presentation at the Oceans of Potential conference, Tuesday 11th September, Plymouth, UK

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BIOPROSP_13 Tromsø, Norway Feb 2013: Opportunity for short oral presentations

Posted On: November 17, 2012

The conference program is complete however we like to invite delegates to present posters combined with short (5’) oral presentations.

Register to conference and send in your abstract within the 13th December 2012. For more info check: http://mabit.no/node/39

Presentation slots are available on all days during the conference.
Your poster and presentation should be relevant for one of the four sessions:

  • Industrial applicability of marine proteins and low molecular compounds
  • Bioprospecting related to aquaculture
  • Marine lipids
  • Bioactive compounds for health

Download preliminary program

 

Marine biotechnology promises huge benefits, but at what risk to our seas?

Posted On: November 17, 2012

Scientists have pinpointed a new treasure trove in our oceans: micro-organisms that contain millions of previously unknown genes and thousands of new families of proteins.

These tiny marine wonders offer a chance to exploit a vast pool of material that could be used to create innovative medicines, industrial solvents, chemical treatments and other processes, scientists say. Researchers have already created new enzymes for treating sewage and chemicals for making soaps from material they have found in ocean organisms.

“The potential for marine biotechnology is almost infinite,” said Curtis Suttle, professor of earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences at the University of British Columbia. “It has become clear that most of the biological and genetic diversity on Earth is – by far – tied up in marine ecosystems, and in particular in their microbial components. By weight, more than 95% of all living organisms found in the oceans are microbial. This is an incredible resource.”

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Marine Natural Product Drug Discovery Symposium: Nov. 6, 2012

Posted On: October 15, 2012

The 2012 Symposium on Marine Natural Product Drug Discovery will bring together academics and industry representatives from across Europe to discuss groundbreaking research  into the development of novel drug candidates from marine natural resources, with particular emphasis on the fields of cancer and on neurodegenerative diseases.

The symposium, which is held in the context of the biannual Pharmatlantic consortium meeting, will take place at the Conference Room of the University of Aberdeen’s Institute of Medical Sciences on November 6th 2012.

For FREE registration to the symposium, please contact Dr. Florence Gunn at: che640@abdn.ac.uk .

Economic outlook in North Carolina focuses on marine biotech

Posted On: October 14, 2012

The sea is offering the Wilmington area another path to prosperity as research and the business of marine biotechnology prepare to grow here. It’s “an industry that’s waiting to happen,” said Randall Johnson, director of the N.C. Biotechnology Center’s southeastern office.

And a new umbrella organization – the Marine Biotechnologies Center of Innovation – hopes to serve as a catalyst for growth and commercialization of marine biotech efforts, said its CEO, Deborah Mosca.

Mosca and a panel of other experts spoke about the field at a gathering Tuesday at the University of North Carolina Wilmington Burney Center. The upbeat marine biotech program was part of UNCW’s annual Economic Outlook Conference.

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