Innovative, powerful bioassay and chemistry platforms
The Institute for Arctic & Antarctic Biodiscovery has designed its drug discovery activities around target-agnostic, in vivo bioassays with high predictivityfor human medicine. Metabolite extracts with high bioactivity and low toxicity in these disease models are analyzed using a state-of-the-art chemistry platform for the rapid and effective identification of drug-like metabolites with high potential to be developed as drug leads.
Targeted bioprospecting in the Arctic and Antarctic
Marine natural products have proven to be a novel and reliable source of chemodiversityto support drug discovery research, yet one third of the globe – the polar regions – are largely unstudied. The Institute for Arctic & Antarctic Biodiscovery is using its polar field research experience to develop libraries of screening samples from Arctic and Antarctic biomes:
- Shallow-water organisms, such as algae, sponges and tunicates
- Deep-sea derived invertebrates, dominated by sponges and corals
- Invertebrate- and sediment-associated bacteria
Focus on translational biodiscovery
All R&D activities at the Institute for Arctic & Antarctic Biodiscoveryare focused on the rapid translation of research results into potential therapeutic products. Towards this end, we emphasize:
- Industrially and clinically relevant criteria to prioritize R&D projects
- Patent protection of research discoveries
- Close links to the pharmaceutical and venture communities for outlicensingand spin-off opportunities
Focus on high-need indication areas
The Institute for Arctic & Antarctic Biodiscovery is focusing on therapeutic indications with urgent medical need and significant market potential, including:
Infectious diseases - Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections are an urgent and growing clinical challenge. Many marine metabolites have antimicrobial activity with novel mechanisms of action.
Rare diseases - There are over 7000 rare diseases, and over 95% have no medication. Orphan drugs have a rapid approval process, and are often gateway products for larger indications.
CNS diseases - The PharmaSeaproject revealed a high percentage of marine metabolites to be neuroactive – indicating potential drug leads for psychiatric disorders, epilepsies and pain.
Cancers - Many cancers remain untreatable. New marine metabolites with novel cytostatic and immunomodulatory activities may be leads for more effective cancer therapeutics.
Image credit: C.elegans image and video from Bob Goldstein, UNC Chapel Hill via Wikimedia Commons