The KAUST Special Academic Partnership Program with Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) funds a project to discover novel, bioactive chemicals produced by Red Sea microbes. The HKUST research team, led by Prof. Pei Yuan Qian, worked with Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Suwailem, Manager of our University’s Coastal and Marine Resources Core Lab, to collect marine bacteria living in unique ecological zones near the Red Sea floor and the surrounding water column.
The HKUST team discovered a bacterium that produces a suite of related chemicals, called didemnins, with anticancer properties. A compound that is closely related to this family, called Aplidin, is currently in Phase III clinical trials for multiple myeloma therapy in 20 countries. Some didemnins are also known for their antivirus and immunosuppressive activities.
Prof. Qian’s team sequenced the entire genome of the bacterium and discovered a full set of genes encoding the enzymes that produce these anticancer compounds. A provisional patent application arising from this discovery was recently filed and is fully owned by KAUST. Technologies derived from the KAUST-HKUST collaboration offer the potential for low-cost fermentation to produce novel, therapeutic drugs that may otherwise be difficult to synthesize.
