{"id":13947,"date":"2022-06-06T05:00:32","date_gmt":"2022-06-06T03:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/?p=120949"},"modified":"2022-06-06T05:22:13","modified_gmt":"2022-06-06T03:22:13","slug":"underwater-pharmacy-meet-the-scientists-raiding-the-oceans-medicine-cabinet","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/rss_feed\/underwater-pharmacy-meet-the-scientists-raiding-the-oceans-medicine-cabinet\/","title":{"rendered":"Underwater pharmacy: Meet the scientists raiding the ocean\u2019s medicine cabinet"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Dr Helen Scales\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 06 June 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Mud and sponges probably don\u2019t feature highly on most scuba divers\u2019 bucket lists. But scientist and explorer Professor Brian Murphy<\/a>, based at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has his sights set on the sediments lurking at the bottom of lakes and the gooey animals clinging to submerged shipwrecks. And for good reason. When he brought back a blob of mud from Lake Michigan, he found it contained bacteria that create two previously unknown molecules<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Lab tests showed that this class of compounds is lethal to the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, a disease that existing drugs are struggling with. \u201cFor millions of years bacteria have fought one another,\u201d says Murphy. \u201cWe\u2019re just harnessing that power.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Around the world, superbugs are on the rise. There have been a number of patients in recent years who have strains of E. coli<\/i> that are resistant to many antibiotics, including drugs that doctors only use as a last resort. It\u2019s an alarming trend in which bacteria are gaining the upper hand in their battle against the antibiotics we use to kill them, hastened by the world\u2019s overuse of these drugs.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe way to combat drug resistance is to find new chemistry,\u201d says Murphy. He\u2019s <\/span>one of many modern-day prospectors who are searching for that new chemistry underwater.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Medicine from the deep<\/h2>\n

From icy polar seas to scorching hydrothermal vents, and from coral reefs to inland lakes, the vast, aquatic realms covering seven-tenths of our planet are home to an immense diversity of life. They include many animals that evolved complex chemical defences, along with a profusion of microbes<\/a>; it is thought that around 90 per cent of oceanic life is microscopic. From among these creatures, researchers are uncovering molecules that could form the basis for new medicines.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Brian Murphy watches as his graduate student, Michael Mullowney, jumps into the water near Iceland\u2019s Grimsey Island, home to one of the world\u2019s largest puffin colonies. The University of Illinois at Chicago scientists travelled to Iceland in May 2014 to search for new antibiotics underwater. \u00a9 Jennifer Yang\/Toronto Star via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Tapping the natural world for pharmaceuticals is nothing new \u2013 pop an aspirin and your headache will be soothed by a substance that was discovered in willow tree bark<\/a>. With the rising tide of drug resistance, the hope is that nature has plenty more in its medicine cabinet for us to dip into. The trick is sifting through all those potent chemicals to find the ones that could fight disease.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no secret that there\u2019s an incredibly high failure rate in developing drugs,\u201d says Murphy. \u201cIt\u2019s really difficult to find a set of molecules that can target a specific disease and do it within the incredibly complex environment of the human body.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To help with this, Murphy is working to smarten up the sample collection process, as it\u2019s one of the few steps in drug development that hasn\u2019t seen a major revolution in recent decades. According to Murphy, looking for molecules in original places is an important part of drug development, so he decided to use a new resource altogether: the general public.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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A diver descends during a technical dive in the Great Lakes. Great Lakes, United States of America \u00a9 Luis Lamar\/National Geographic\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Chatting with recreational scuba divers gave Murphy the idea of searching shipwrecks for sponges. These unprepossessing animals spend most of their lives stuck in place, sifting the water for food and taking on hordes of bacteria. \u201cBacteria can constitute up to 30 or 40 per cent of sponge biomass,\u201d Murphy explains. <\/span><\/p>\n

Freshwater sponges are a common sight across the USA\u2019s Great Lakes but almost nothing is known about them. Rather than go out himself and gather sponges \u2013 a time-consuming and expensive business \u2013 Murphy piloted a citizen science<\/a> project asking divers to collect tiny samples for him <\/span>while they\u2019re out and about. He sent out collecting kits and got a great response, receiving more than 40 nubbins of sponge in the mail.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2016 he rolled the project out across the Great Lakes and hopes to sample as many sites as possible. Ultimately, Murphy wants to map the distribution of sponges and bacteria across the lakes so that future efforts can be more effective and will zero in on fruitful spots, both in the Great Lakes and beyond.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Read more about the ocean:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n