"Although there is no tangible benefit as yet, the hope is that the continuation of the project through other mechanisms will result in the discovery of new drugs through the use of marine biotechnology, to help advance the Drug Industry to begin producing more effective drugs to combat diseases, and for human health and nutrition. This project therefore has both a social and economic impact as many enzymes and compounds from marine sources are being used as the basis for many biotechnology applications, a multibillion dollar industry. This (drug discovery and development) however is a very long process, but this project proves that our biodiversity is ""hot"" and holds so much promise for future commercialization objectives. Therefore, there is a real possibility for the discovery of completely novel structures with potentially valuable bioactivity properties for pharmaceutical development out of the hits we have identified in this project. Lastly, the specific focus of this project on novel antimicrobial strategies, especially against antibiotic resistant pathogens, is well aligned to assisting the Department of Health in its commitment to the Antimicrobial Resistance National Strategy Framework.
Taking into account the above premises, in the final reporting period we have contributed the expected impacts as follows.
1. Technical capability. All seconded researcher have developed their technical skills within their individual research projects in cooperation with the host institution. Some of the seconded researcher have increased their exposure to different research environments and enlarged their overall vision of the project.
2. Employability. Although it is definitely too early for evaluating how the Ocean Medicines programme will influence the researcher’s employability after the end of the project, it can be said that the training is being performed by exposing the researchers to a mixture of technical and conceptual/scientific issues, so as to provide each researcher allow with a number of different tools that will enable them to successfully tackle several diverse working environments.
3. Entrepreneurial spirit. This also is something that is developing with time. Most of the researchers are very young, and their major goal at present is to learn as many techniques as possible, running as many experiments as possible, co-authoring some papers, and getting their PhD. On the other hand, the goal of the PIs is that of making the fellows understand that together with the technical skills and experimental work, other issues are equally important for their growth as real scientists. How to translate their scientific results into tangible outputs, which can be exploited and used for furthering the quality of human life is an issue that the Ocean Medicines researchers have clear in mind and that will hopefully learn to implement towards the end of the programme."
