Scientists Search Deep Sea Reefs for Wonder Drugs

ScienceDaily is reporting that a team of scientists will be venturing some 2000-3000 feet below the ocean surface in order to explore deep-sea reefs discovered last December. From the article: "A primary goal of the upcoming expedition, which is funded largely by the State of Florida's 'Florida Oceans Initiative,' will be to search for marine organisms that produce chemical compounds with the potential to treat human diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's."

Comments

Re:Reef Etiquette

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

It takes 30,000 years to grow 1 cubic inch of coral,

Source?

I thought it was more like 1/2 inch per year

Re:Curse of the Blue Gold

[Red Flayer]

"Any chemical that can be synthesized biologically should be perfectly capable of being synthesized in-vitro."

Should be != is. Particularly since development of the process for complex compunds can be extrmely expensive.

"Any protein can be cloned and synthesized en masse."

Protein folding is still a tricky business for a lot of proteins, and not necessarily reproducible in a lab. Plus, you've got to isolate the gene(s) responsible for the protein production, successfully insert them into bacteria or yeast to produce a viable colony, and then ferment them. By no means automatic. It's not a simple matter of 'cloning' a protein.

Cost is also a huge issue. As the GP alludes to, the availability of a cheap supply will often preclude synthetic production -- regardless of whether that supply is truly cheap in the long run (i.e., in his example, the public value of the reefs/natural sponges in the environment is not included in the cost equation for the drug company).

Sure, as the natural supply becomes more limited, it gets more expensive, and synthesis of the compound becomes an economically viable alternative for the company. But in the meanwhile, overharvesting of a natural resource can have pretty dire consequences.