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FLORIDA FRONTIERS Exploring Unknown Deep-Sea Biomedical Resources MISSION DISPATCH 2 • May 21, 2004 Dispatch by Brian Cousin - @Sea Photo-Journalist After transiting north through the night we are approximately 90 miles east of St. Augustine, Florida. It's a picture perfect morning - seas are calm, winds are light and the sun is shining - ideal for diving the Johnson-Sea-Link I (JSLI) submersible. The launch goes by the book: load up, boom out, lower to water, release lines and descend into the magic blue of the Gulf Stream. Don Liberatore is piloting the JSLI with Harbor Branch Senior Scientist John Reed in the sphere to another mound, this one towering 300' up from the ocean floor. One of the 150 pinnacles originally identified by Reed during a 90-mile shipboard fathometer transect in 2002, it took relatively little time to locate again by a fathometer transect 
this morning. Reed is betting that the mound will
prove to be another lithoherm - a deep water reef formed by Lophelia coral perhaps tens of thousands of years old - and habitat for
sponges and other organisms of interest to the biomedical marine researchers.
Dr. Thomas Brueck, from the Florida Atlantic University, Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology is the aft-compartment observer. Like Dr. Frank Mari who occupied the chamber for his first submersible dive yesterday, it's Brueck's first JSLI dive, too. Dr. Brueck's team is out to collect deep water soft corals that do not contain symbiotic algae, to compare chemotaxonomically with shallow water species that do. They have studied several species of shallow water soft corals and isolated a number of important compounds, among them the pseudopterocins , which are terpene type compounds that possess powerful anti-inflammatory properties. One of these pseudopterocins is used as an ingredient in a popular brand of face cream that thousands of people use every day. They are also in clinical trials as a treatment of asthma and arthritis. Dr. Brueck is interested in how the molecular evolution of biosynthetic enzymes affects the structural complexity of terpenes. Terpenes have many important functions in building hormones, and provide new potential as anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory agents. Cholesterol in the human body is a common example of a terpene. So is limonene, which constitutes the major component of lemon scent. 
In addition to isolating new compounds, Dr. Brueck is studying how they are structured in an effort to determine a practical approach
to synthesizing large quantities of the compounds. In many cases, a compound that cannot be synthesized is not considered a candidate
for pharmaceutical development.
Dr. Brueck is excited about the possibilities of recombinant technology, where a cloned gene encoding a biosynthetic enzyme can be expressed into a host organism such as a bacteria, yeast or plant. Here, the expressed enzyme can react with its natural or unnatural substrate to form a library of novel chemical compounds with potential pharmaceutical properties. As the rest of the science team awaits the submersible's return from the depths, a spot appears low on the horizon and seems to be heading our way. The spot develops into a military aircraft that makes several low passes around the R/V Seward Johnson. On the bridge, submersible pilot Dan Boggess identifies it as a P3 Orion - a submarine hunter. We can only guess that they may have been getting in a little practice, using the Johnson-Sea-Link I over 2000 feet down as a target to detect. 
Following a successful dive, the Harbor Branch BMR team pores over the buckets of samples collected from the deep water reef, which
John Reed says was covered with life.
The top and sides of the reef were covered with thickets of the deep water coral Lophelia pertusa, a white branching coral which
provides habitat to a host of creatures including shrimp, crabs, mollusks, brittlestarsfish, worms, and fish.
For Dr. Brueck, there is a soft coral to work on, so the dive was a success for him, too. The sample collected for him yesterday has been partially processed, with initial substrate incubation and isolation of terpene products taking place - an important step in isolating the biosynthetic enzymes involved in the formation of new compounds. JOHNSON-SEA-LINK UPGRADE Harbor Branch sub crew today began switching out JSLI's old thrusters for new ones. The new thrusters weigh less than the old units and provide 20 to 30 pounds more thrust for the same power applied to them. 
They incorporate a brushless motor and shaft that is oil compensated and pressure balanced to offset external pressure at depth,
reducing stress on the seals, increasing reliability and decreasing maintenance time. Specifications for the new thruster design
were generated by Harbor Branch engineers. Each unit includes components fabricated by Harbor Branch as well as those outsourced
from other manufacturers.
The transition to a full complement of the new thrusters is expected to take place over the course of this Center of Excellence in Biomedical and Marine Biotechnology mission. The old thruster design was developed almost 30 years ago, and some of the old units have been maintained in service for approximately 15 years. They'll be kept as back up units until they are eventually retired. Center of Excellence in Biomedical and Marine Biotechnology The Center of Excellence was created with $10 million in state funding in 2003. It is based at FAU and combines the expertise of Harbor Branch, Florida International University, Nova Southeastern University, the Smithsonian Marine Station at Ft. Pierce, and several private companies. The overall goal for the Center of Excellence is to promote the discovery, development, and commercialization in Florida of new medicines and other products. Center funding is intended as seed money to further expand Florida's emerging marine biotechnology industry over the next two years with the goal of attracting longer-term funding from federal and commercial sources. Besides funding one expedition per year, Center of Excellence money is being used to:
2) design and build a high-definition camera system that can be carried on an AUV to map new seafloor sites 3) to purchase equipment that will greatly enhance member institutions' ability to rapidly and accurately analyze the pharmaceutical potential of new chemical compounds.  |  |
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