News & Events

When

Date - February 14, 2018
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

What

Ph.D. Literature Seminar – 751
Title: “Natural Products Advancements and Incorporation of Metabolomics and Genomics Data for Novel Drug Discovery”
Advisor: Dr. Nadja Cech

Abstract:

Natural Products Advancements and Incorporation of Metabolomics and Genomics Data for Novel Drug Discovery

This seminar will encompass an overview of drug discovery and a discussion of how technology, such as genomic data and mass spectrometry have aided in the advancement. There are many challenges in laboratory culturing and some isolates are unable to be cultured or do not actively produce secondary metabolites without appropriate external pressures. Even with slight variations we can visualize significant changes in the metabolite production, there will be a discussion of various was to mine the organisms to promote their full potential. Successful methods to promote the formation of metabolites include genetic engineering, mutagenesis, co-culturing, the one-strain-many compounds (OSMAC) approach, or treatment with epigenetic modifiers.

The genomes of filamentous fungi contain up to 90 biosynthetic gene clusters encoding for diverse secondary metabolites, which is indeed an advantageous starting point for drug discovery. Gene activation through homologous and/or heterologous expression will aid in the production of silent gene cluster and production of novel compounds. Along with background of methods, there will be a focus on technological advances done by Dr. Neil Kelleher’s (Prof. of Chemistry at Northwestern University) laboratory to identify metabolites and their gene clusters through the formation of the Fungal Artificial Chromosome- Mass Spectrometry (FAC-MS) Pipeline.