Research Overview
The research of marine natural products has been conducted for over five decades. Thanks to sophisticated techniques from sample collection, extraction, purification and finally to bioactivity screening, researchers have successfully isolated more than 30,000 compounds from marine organisms, including bacteria, fungi, microalgae, seaweed, sponges and corals. The hostile nature of marine environment drove organisms to produce secondary metabolites with unique skeletons and potent biological activities. To date, the worldwide marine pharmaceutical industry includes eight approved drugs, such as the powerful antivirus drug, cytarabine, and the anticancer agent, halichondrin. Aiming to participate in this global movement, the main purpose of our project is to advance the techniques of breeding and culturing marine invertebrates and stabilize the mass production of marine natural products. Moreover, we aim to raise the public awareness of marine environmental conservation. We not only farm marine invertebrates but also study their associated microorganisms that are involved in secondary metabolite biosynthesis. Using microorganism biotransfer or the substitution of natural products and precursors for microorganisms facilitates mass production of the microorganisms. In this way, we could obtain stable yields of metabolites to increase the depth of marine natural products.