Girona (ACN)- Abdelatif el Marrouni, a
researcher from the University
of Girona (UdG), has managed to
isolate three natural products from the the bottom of the sea around the world to create new drugs. In his thesis he explains the methods used for the first time to make these natural
products of large structural accessible to scientist
from simple and
commercially available compounds.
The research responds to
the need for new drugs
to fight future infections or
diseases such as cancer. The investigation is a cooperative
effort between the Laboratoire de Chimie
Organique de l’Ecole Superieur de Physique et Chimie Industrielles / Organic
Chemistry Laboratory of the Superior School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry (ESPCI) of Paris.
Resistance to certain drugs and the emergence of new infections are a threat to human health. Given the difficulty in finding new tools to improve the immune system and taking nature as an inspiration, Marrouni started a research project focused on the seabed to find new therapeutic agents.
In this context, Marrouni
has developed two projects which have in common the synthesis of new bioactive compounds. His thesis
is called Synthesis of unusual alpha-amino acids and study of the effect of
their incorporation into antimicrobial peptides. Total synthesis of bioactive
marine natural products and analogues and has been led by Dr Montserrat
Heras (UdG) and Dr Janine Cossy (ESPCI).
Among other advantages, the three natural products found
on the bottom of the sea (Acremolide B, Bitungolide F and
Lyngbouilloside), have considerable
antitumor activity. Moreover, until now, the chemical structure of two
of them has never been verified. Therefore, the researcher's thesis is the first that makes
these large structural products accessible to scientist.
As a result, it is now possible
to work with three products
from simple and commercially available compounds, which have
interesting biological activities.
From Paris
to Girona
The investigation arose from the collaboration between
Professor Janine Cossy and Doctor Stellios Arseniyadis from the Organic Chemistry Laboratory of l’Ecole
Superieur de Physique et Chimie Industrielles of Paris. The first project took
place in France, but Marrouni
developed the second part at the University
of Girona, under the supervision
of Doctor Montserrat Heras from the LIPPSO group (Chemical Department) and with
the collaboration of the CIDSAV group of the Institute of Food Technology (INTEA).
The initial results of this second project identified products with promising biological profile, which
will be used as a starting point for further study.
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