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A High-Performance Liquid Chromatograph grinds out chemistry data in the corner of one of the ship's labs.
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A brilliant blue stove-pipe sponge (not a target species for this mission) grows on a healthy reef about 100 feet down.
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Colors wash across the sky behind the ship's foremast. The end of the day does not signal the end of work for our crew.
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Drawing on the experience of their past missions, the scientists have so far concentrated their energy on collecting a variety of colorful sponges, soft corals, and delicate clusters of tunicates. Some of these marine organisms have already yielded new anti-tumor medicines, discovered by this same research group. Banking on such past successes, the scientists feel that they are on track toward the discovery of additional drugs.
But, as I have learned by watching the scientists in action, the process of discovery is not a simple one -- nor is success likely to be found without a true collaboration between all the researchers on board. Cell biologists, microbiologists, chemists, and aquaculture experts work together in an attempt to uncover what medicinal benefits may lie hidden in the tissues of their specimens.
I headed into one of the ship's labs to meet with Amy Wright, a natural products chemist from the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution. When she is not searching the depths from within the deep-diving JOHNSON-SEA-LINK submersible, she can usually be found laboring over an intimidating-looking machine, called a High-Performance Liquid Chromatograph (HPLC for short). It is here that Wright analyzes dissolved bits of marine creatures, looking for encouraging clues in their chemistry.
"I'm looking for what kinds of compounds are present in our samples," says Wright, looking up from her computer monitor. "The specimens with more chemistry concern us. These are the interesting ones that we might want to have a closer look at."
As the HPLC analyzes the chemical make-up of her samples and spits out scientist-friendly graphs, Wright scans the results as eagerly as a stockbroker eyeing the peaks and valleys of the NASDAQ. To Wright, an expert in her field, the graphs are as telling as tickertape.
"So far we have discovered that many of our samples share common compounds...yet the organisms themselves are not related," Wright added with a hint of irony before returning to her work.
I walked across the slightly swaying lab to check in with the microbiology team of Julie Olson and Kathleen Janda, working amid scores of petri dishes laid out on their lab bench. They know that the compounds that Amy Wright is uncovering may not, in fact, be the products of the sampled organisms themselves. Creatures like sponges contain loads of other microscopic animals. Olson and Janda work to determine whether such microbes are actually responsible for the interesting chemistry.
Each sample presents so many possibilities...so many questions. The scientists are working hard, each one of them, to add a few critical answers to the mix and to learn about each other's discoveries. Their quest for cures continues tomorrow... |
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