Personal statement
Chancellor's Research Fellow and Lecturer Marine Natural Products Drug Discovery
- The Scottish Association for Marine Science, UK. PDRA 2014-2016
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography University of California San Diego, USA. PDF 2012-2014
- University of Prince Edward Island, Canada. PhD 2008-2012
- Florida Atlantic University, USA. MChem 2005
- University of Aberdeen, UK. MChem 2000-2005
As a Chancellor's Fellow in Drug Discovery, my research group is focussed on the discovery of new medicines, primarily antibiotics and anticancer compounds.
The bacterial order actinomycetes are the main focus of my research group, they are known to be prolific producers of new medicines. Historically these bacteria have been explored on land, however, we are mostly focussed on isolating actinomycetes from under explored marine environments, this can include the Polar regions, deep sea and costal areas. The Oceans cover approximately 70% of the Earth's surface and are incredibly biodiverse. It is this biological diversity that we explore for new chemical diversity.
My research group is interdisciplinary and includes, microbiology, molecular biology, genomics, natural products chemistry and comparative metabolomics. We use cutting edge techniques including imagine mass spectrometry (IMS) and global natural products social molecular networking (GNPS).
These marine natural products (secondary metabolites) provide a wealth of chemical structures and biological activities. In addition to new medicines, we are also interested in understanding the microbial ecology, biogeography and functional role of these secondary metabolites within the marine environment for improved bioprospecting.
Please visit the Duncan lab website: http://katherinerduncan.weebly.com