Natural products research
- New collection techniques and novel culture media and conditions
- Molecular methods to rapidly identify micro-organisms
- Sponge cell culture
- Marine environmental monitoring
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Natural products research |
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Marine micro-organisms are known to be rich sources of novel compounds.
However, only a very small proportion of microbial organisms living in the sea
have been isolated and even fewer successfully grown in the laboratory. To
facilitate this avenue of research, there is a need for new methods to collect,
isolate and identify marine micro-organisms. Marine micro-organisms are
often found living in symbiotic association with invertebrates such as
sponges. This relationship might prove to play a significant role in
micro-organism productivity and the study will include an investigation of the
role of the host organism.
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