2001–2002 - California Sea Grant - UC San Diego

esearch supported by the National Cancer Institute and the Department
of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program, the scientists are trying to
insert the entire gene cluster into a single bacterium.
Ultimately, the idea is to find a bacterium whose genetic apparatus will
accept the cluster and then synthesize the proteins that produce
bryostatins. A bacterium such as streptomyces, already proven in industry
as capable of being mass-cultured for antibiotic production, would theoretically
be an ideal candidate. If successful, it would be the first time
researchers have been able to produce rare marine compounds in genetically
altered, nonmarine bacteria. Haygood’s Sea Grant research has led to
a U.S. patent, and the licensing rights to this patent have since been
bought by CalBioMarine Technologies, Inc. in Carlsbad, California.
Bryostatin is now in clinical trials for use in humans.
Her team is continuing its efforts to directly culture Candidatus
Endobugula sertula and is now examining the bioactivity of other promising
compounds from close relatives of B. neritina.
The marine invertebrate Bugula nertina, a brown bryozoan animal with stringy
tufts that look like algae, appears unremarkable and similar to a variety of mosslike
sea creatures. Photo: Katherine Sharp, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
“Sea Grant is a great program,” said Dominick
Mendola, CEO and founder of CalBioMarine
Technologies in northern San Diego County. “Sea
Grant was willing to take an early-stage gamble
when no one else was. This is what a funding
agency is supposed to do. Industry cannot afford
to conduct earlystage
research
because it is too high
risk.”
Haygood’s industrial collaborator on the marine
compound research project, Dominick Mendola
of CalBioMarine Technologies,Carlsbad, California.
Photo: CalBioMarine Technologies, Inc.
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