This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project seeks to optimize and commercialize the photofermentative production of the potent antitubulin compound and promising anticancer agent. Curacin A. and other fine chemicals from the filamentous marine cyanobacterium (blue-green alga). Lyngbya majuscula. Curacin A is an unusual thiozoline-containing compound that belongs to the colchicine class of inhibitors, but its chemical structure is unique from other know antimitotic agents. L. majuscula is a photosynthetic microorganism that has mat-forming growth characteristics that require a unique photobioreactor design for large- scale saline culture under controlled conditions. Using 15-L photobioreactors, culture protocols will be developed to increase curacin A yield by about 40-fold over current protocols. The innovative photobioreactor will be suitable for the culture of other marine cyanobacteria that are known to produce bioactive compounds of promising value as anticancer, anti-infective, and anti-inflammatory therapeutics. The results of Phase I will be incorporated into the engineering of a larger scale photobiocactor in Phase II.
An innovative photobioreactor will be developed and demonstrated for the aquaculture production of anticancer drugs and other pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals in marine cyanobacteria.
