Aphios
Presents Its Research on Marine Therapeutics at BIT's
1st Annual World Congress of Marine Biotechnology-2011
in Dalian, China
April
26, 2011
— Aphios Corporation
President and CEO Trevor P. Castor, Ph. D., today presented
a lecture titled “Discovery and Development of Novel
Therapeutics from Marine Organisms”at BIT's 1st Annual
World Congress of Marine Biotechnology-2011, held at Dalian
World EXPO Center in Dalian, China. The
theme of the conference was Ocean, Life and Sustainability.
The discovery and development of novel marine therapeutics
for infectious diseases, cancer and other human diseases
are being conducted through high throughput screening of
marine organisms. To conduct this screening, we have developed
a rapid sample preparation method that has been automated.
This method utilizes SuperFluids™ or SFS (supercritical,
critical or near-critical fluids with or without polar cosolvents
such as an alcohol) for first, cell disruption, and second,
polarity-guided fractional extraction of bioactive constituents.
Aphios Corporation has established a library of more than
1,400 unique marine microorganisms from diverse environments,
including deep-sea sediments to shallow water mangrove swamps,
tropical waters to temperate oceans, hydrothermal vents
as well as normal saline to hyper-saline conditions. The
microorganisms are fermented in four different marine media
designed to maximize the diversity of secondary metabolites.
Biodiversity is further enhanced by utilizing SFS to produce
partially purified fractions of increasing polarity.
In a direct, large-scale and broad comparison with conventional
organic phase (butanol) extraction by the Bristol-Myers
Squibb Company, we have demonstrated that this process will
increase the recovery and diversity of secondary metabolites,
reduce interference from nuisance compounds and minimize
background noise in sensitive enzymatic and molecular-based
screens. Our pharmaceutical screening experiences have indicated
a much higher proportion of bioactive “hits”
in certain screens from these SFS fractions, at lower than
normal metabolite concentrations. Aphios is utilizing this
process of high throughput sample preparation and screening
to develop novel anti-infective therapeutics for HIV, Influenza
and Smallpox as well as Gingivitis and Multi-Drug Resistant
(MDR) Bacteria.
Aphios Corporation® is a green biotechnology
company developing enabling technology platforms for improved
drug discovery and manufacturing, nanotechnology drug delivery
and pathogenic drug safety. Based on these platforms, we
are developing enhanced therapeutic products for health
maintenance, disease prevention and the treatment of certain
cancers, infectious diseases and Central Nervous System
(CNS) disorders..
BIT Life Sciences, Inc. is a high-tech
professional conference organizer service founded in Dalian,
China. It is affliated with more than 100 industrial associations
and has relations with 100 top pharmaceutical manufacturers.
#####
