VIU Science and Technology Lecture Series: Marine Natural Products - Medicines from the Sea

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Wednesday, March 25th, 2015
7:00 PM to 8:00 PM

In this free public lecture Erin McCauley will discuss how many approved pharmaceuticals are derived from natural products produced by living organisms; compounds produced to confer an evolutionary advantage to the organism, but often with biological activity beneficial to humans. Erin will outline how the terrestrial environment has long been explored for its pharmaceutical potential and has yielded such well known drugs as Morphine, Aspirin, and Penicillin but since the marine environment covers 80% of the Earth's surface and harbours the world's greatest biological diversity it may be a tremendous source of new pharmaceuticals. Many marine invertebrates and microorganisms have already been shown to produce compounds with a wide range of biological activities including anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and antibiotic activity. With many marine-derived compounds being developed for the pharmaceutical industry, exploring the Earth's oceans has become one of the new frontiers for drug discovery. Erin's talk will focus on the natural product potential of microorganisms isolated from two Caribbean corals.

https://web.viu.ca/simmsw