Researchers scour the ocean in search of new medicines

Strathclyde researchers are heading a project which is scouring the seas for chemicals and compounds that can be used for medicine, beauty products, food and the industrial chemistry sector.

The SeaBioTech study is exploring the idea that seas and oceans could be filled with undiscovered sources of medicine.

By using the latest methods and technology, our researchers hope to identify potential resources that have so far been out of reach.

Diversity among and within plants and animals at sea is known to be far greater than it is on land, yet we still know very little about the extent of the world's underwater resources.

Project leader Professor Brian McNeil said:

Marine microbial biodiversity can only be guessed at. Very few studies have been done using modern detection techniques – but indications are that there are many new species of micro-organisms awaiting discovery.

Our research has the potential to dramatically reduce the soaring costs of drugs, which are putting tremendous financial strains on health systems around the world. There are numerous examples of current medicines, including anti-cancer drugs, which cost tens of thousands of pounds per round of treatment for each patient.

To address this issue, we will also carefully consider how these marine products, such as anti-bacterial agents, can be mass-produced at prices health services can realistically afford.

The research

Modern approaches to discovering and identifying new micro-organisms now make it possible to explore them for potentially useful antibiotics, anti-infectives, anti-inflamatorires, and anti-cancer treatments.

Here at Strathclyde, we excel in our ability to find new compounds for possible treatments and we have decades worth of experience in testing how effective they are.

SeaBioTech also brings together world-leading experts in fields like biology, genomics, and natural product chemistry as well as aspects of law and marketing with a bearing on the project.

It'll have a significant impact on research and technology, on innovation, on European competitiveness and on economic growth.

Sustainability

Sustainability is at the heart of SeaBioTech. 

The project is funded by the European Union and is being carried out in accordance with the Nagoya Protocol, which was signed in 2010 by parties to the international Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

The protocol provdes 'a transparent legal framework for the effective implementation of one of the three objectives of the CBD: the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources.