News & Events

When

Date - October 8, 2021
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

What

Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
UNC Wilmington
Talk Title: Parasites and Plants: 2 Stories of Natural Product Exploration in UNC Wilmington’s Drug DISCOvery Group

Abstract:

The world of natural product discovery is a vast and exciting field.  In UNCW’s DISCOvery group, one of our major focus areas is the discovery of bioactive compounds from bacteria inhabiting the unexplored niche of marine parasites.  For this project, marine parasites are collected, and the bacterial communities are examined though both traditional bacterial culturing and bioactive compound purification and characterization, as well as via mass spectrometry-based metabolomics analyses and culture-independent methods where the genetic material of the microbial community is sequenced to determine species richness and biosynthetic capabilities.  In the second research focus, we are applying a pharmacokinetic experimental approach, coupled with a mass spectrometry-based metabolomics analysis workflow to assess complex mixtures present in medicinal plant extracts.  The goal of this research is to develop an in-vitro platform for understanding how complex metabolite mixtures behave when herbal supplements are consumed.