This research proposal unties three Excellent Portuguese R&D Units from the public and private sectors, formalized as consortium partners, in addition to one biotechnology-based company specialized in bioprocess optimization and one foreign consultant with outstanding expertise in analytical chemistry. Featuring a highly multidisciplinary team with 15 doctorates, this project fosters excellent scientific dissemination, training and novelty for the sustainable harvest of natural products from the seas.
This project makes optimal use of the most prolific sources of secondary metabolites on Earth, the microbiomes of marine sponges and corals, to harvest novel natural products with potent bioactivities of promising use in applied biotechnology. The research addresses the current realization that soft coral and sponge-associated bacteria produce many of the bioactive compounds found in their hosts.