With this award, the Synthetic Organic Program and the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities are supporting the research of Dr. Paul J. Scheuer of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. Dr. Scheuer will focus his work on gaining an understanding of marine ecology and biosynthesis and seek leads for the discovery of compounds having important biological properties. The focus of this research is the elucidation of the constituents of sacoglossan and cephalaspidean mollusks and of their algal or molluskan diets and the study of a sponge of order Verongida to determine the origin of the cyano/isocyano functions in marine sponges. Another focus involves the screening of sessile, soft-bodied invertebrates for interesting biological activity.
