Marine Natural Products Gordon Research Conference and Gordon Research Seminar

Project Summary Marine Natural Products continue to play a critical role in the treatment and prevention of human diseases. Most of our small molecule drugs are either derived from or inspired by natural products. While the majority of them is based on terrestrial natural products, the marine environment remains a largely unexplored frontier that

harbors the greatest biodiversity on our planet. This rich biodiversity in turn translates into chemical diversity and potentially new pharmacology as a basis for the discovery of new strategies for the management of human health. The unique chemical scaffolds of marine natural products that consequently displays unique

pharmacology, provides structure-function pairs for target validation and drug development. In recent decades marine natural products researchers have searched for ways to effectively harness new methodologies to mine the biosynthetic potential of marine organisms. With advances in sampling strategies, genomics, synthetic and

chemical biology, complimented by new analytical and synthetic chemistry tools, this field has been addressing the challenges and gaining major insight into structural novelty, supply issue and target identification, thus overcoming the hurdles in the current era. The field has been emphasizing the development of databases and

computational tools, including machine learning, to analyze the massive genomic and structural information. Breakthroughs in fields such as cryo-EM, and other enabling technologies as antibody-drug conjugation have now penetrated the field of marine natural products, synergizing with other methods to decipher target

interactions. As we anticipate this huge progress to lead to a new wave of drugs to help combat the rapidly evolving trends in human diseases, the synergistic efforts in multiple disciplines related to marine natural products science will be the focus of the 2024 Marine Natural Products GRC that consequently aligns well with

the mission of NCCIH. Subtitled “From Discovery to Production via Function to Applications”, the meeting will provide an exceptional platform to all marine natural products researchers at various career stages and coming from all parts of the globe while representing research in both academia and industry, to gather, exchange,

network and be inspired by the peers in the field. Presentations and discussions will address themes from various perspectives, including technologies, disease indications, biological targets and applications at the molecular, cellular and organismal levels as well as ecological context. Attendees bring diverse and cross-disciplinary

expertise in bioorganic, medicinal, and pharmaceutical chemistry, and ecology, as well as in genomics, biotechnology, bioinformatics and molecular pharmacology. Ample opportunities for scientific exchange in and outside of meeting sessions, collaboration, and networking will facilitate the pivotal goal of connecting and

educating marine natural products researchers. NIH support will be directed to fund the participation of graduate students and postdoctoral attendees as presenters and discussion leaders at the 2024 GRS, and early career as well as established scientists, while emphasizing the participation of females and members of groups that are

traditionally under-represented in science.