Looking to the sea for the cures of tomorrow
The EC-funded MIRACLE project set out to create cultures of newly discovered marine microorganisms and closely examine their function. One of the key tasks carried out during the project was the collection of hundreds of strains, with potential financial benefits. These strains were fermented in different growth media at the Instituto Biomar in Spain in an effort to subsequently isolate their metabolites. These metabolites were then examined for specific functionalities, with main emphasis on cell-killing ability. One of the main aims of the MIRACLE project was to identify novel compounds with anticancer activity. Therefore microbial metabolites were added to the growth media of specific tumour cell lines. The project partners are keen to further this line of research and further examine the anticancer potential of these compounds. The strains available number in the thousands and could potentially provide new starting materials of pharmaceutical and financial interest.
