Optimizing Aquaculture Production of Bryostatin Class Anti-Cancer and Anti-Alzheimer’s Drugs (2009)

Undergraduate: Trey Creech

Faculty Advisor: Niels Lindquist
Department: Biology

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Bryostatins are a class of highly biologically active natural products found only in Bugula neritina. Bryostatin 1 is presently in clinical trials to treat cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. Because the animal contains only minute quantities of the bryostatins (~0.0001% dry mass), their acquisition from collections of either wild or cultured populations has not been economically viable. Also, chemical synthesis is not feasible due to their structural complexity. The lack of a sustainable supply of these compounds has impeded their clinical evaluation and jeopardizes their ultimate use as a vital cancer and Alzheimer’s drug. The discovery by the Lindquist group (UNC Institute of Marine Sciences) of high bryostatin concentrations (1-2% dry mass) in the free-swimming larval stage of B. neritina points to an aquaculture method that leads to an efficient and economical method for bryostatin collection. This would be accomplished not by harvesting adults but by perpetuating them on settlements units under docks. The daily production of bryostatin-rich larvae can then be collected in an efficient manner.