This proposal seeks partial support for an international meeting on marine natural products as part of the Gordon Research Conference series. The overarching goals of the conference are to better understand the production and biology of marine secondary metabolites and thereby enhance their potential utility in human medicine. The growing impact of marine microbes on these key aspects will be a continuing theme throughout the conference. The potential therapeutic utilities explored include anti-infective, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, as well as neurological activities. The format for the conference features established investigators as discussion leaders, and in some cases providing seminal lectures to introduce a topic, followed by presentations from younger investigators of their latest hypotheses and preliminary results.
The specific aims of the meeting are as follows: 1. To conduct a Gordon Research Conference on Marine Natural Products that explores the production and biological roles of marine secondary metabolites. 2. To hold the meeting at Ventura California, California, during February 28 - March 5, 2010 organized by an industrial scientist chair, Dr. Guy T. Carter, Assistant Vice President, Chemical Technologies, Wyeth Research and vice chair, Dr. Amy E. Wright, Research Professor, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. 3. To bring approximately 150 participants together in a stimulating forum that involves 32 invited speakers, at least 10 of whom are younger investigators (<10 yrs since Ph.D.). 4. To pursue a program that will facilitate participation by attendees from diverse disciplines in both formal and informal discussions on frontier issues in the field. The Gordon Research Conference on Marine Natural Products is regarded as the premier scientific meeting in this field. The scientific basis for the pursuit of biologically active secondary metabolites from marine organisms has undergone an evolution from investigations solely based on bioactivity-guided chemical investigations to a broad range of approaches including microbiological, biosynthetic, and genomic methods. This conference aims to bring together scientists from these diverse disciplines to engage in seminal discussions which lead to the formation of multidisciplinary collaborations to address complex research problems. In addition to this broad base of scientific expertise, our goal is to enhance the diversity among the attendees. We will continue to encourage participation by women, minorities, and persons with disabilities. An expected outcome from the conference is that new lines of research will be generated that will bridge our understanding of the biological roles and potential applications of marine natural products in human medicine.
This application seeks to facilitate the interactions between chemical and biological disciplines in a focused forum that leads to the generation of new hypotheses and collaborations. The outcome of these explorations is expected to have significant impact on the translation of the initially observed biological activities of marine natural products into useful medicinal agents, as anti-infective, anticancer, anti-inflammatory and neurological agents.
