FlaSoxxJim Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 (edited) Apologies to those not interested, but for anybody else my institute's ship, research submersible, and chief coral scientist are out in the Gulf Stream doing some neat work on a deepwater reef system. Our Drugs From The Sea group found an obscure little sponge on these reefs that yields a metabolite that is showing promise as a potential cancer cure. NBC video link USGS is hosting daily mission coverage as well, if you want to know more about the cruise. Edited August 14, 2009 by FlaSoxxJim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrangeSox Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 Cool stuff. Thanks for posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuskyCaucasian Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 wow. fascinating. thanks for the info. very neat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Aug 14, 2009 -> 06:55 AM) Apologies to those not interested, but for anybody else my institute's ship, research submersible, and chief coral scientist are out in the Gulf Stream doing some neat work on a deepwater reef system. Our Drugs From The Sea group found an obscure little sponge on these reefs that yields a metabolite that is showing promise as a potential cancer cure. NBC video link USGS is hosting daily mission coverage as well, if you want to know more about the cruise. Cure or treatment? Cure would be huge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlaSoxxJim Posted August 14, 2009 Author Share Posted August 14, 2009 QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 14, 2009 -> 12:35 PM) Cure or treatment? Cure would be huge. Wat too early to tell in this instance. But we do have two sponge-derived natural products in human clinical trials right now that are showing promise in killing a few different cancers including pancreatic cancer. One compound is called discodermolide and it's MOA is as a tubulin stabilizer that basically freezes dividing target cells in the middle of the cell cycle and basically causes them to commit cell suicide (apoptosis). I don't know enough about the glass sponge yet to know the mechanism underlying its bioactivity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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