Science on Tap: Soaking Up Success: The Medicinal Molecules of Sponges​

Natural medicines and pharmaceuticals have gone hand in hand together for thousands of years, with up to 60% of the modern pharmaceutical market consisting of drugs derived from nature. Such examples include the fungal antibiotic penicillin, morphine from the poppy, or the anti-cancer drug taxol originating from the Pacific yew tree. Just a few miles away, our vastly unexplored oceans may hold the key to finding the next life-saving medicine. In this talk, I will explore one of nature's oldest organisms, the sea sponge, and its chemistry. There are two reasons to examine the sea sponge: its diverse chemistry, as it makes sense that they may hold insight into overcoming disease due to their long-lasting history on this planet. In this talk, I will discuss the process of natural product discovery, the many biologically active compounds produced by these organisms, and the promising future they may hold. I will also discuss my research into solving the structurally complex molecules sponges make, the selective antibiotics they produce, and the bright future they may have for human health.

Speaker: Samuel Mussetter, UC Santa Cruz