Pharmaceutical and Bioactive Natural Products

Biotechnology may be defined as the application of scientific and engineering principles to the processing of materials by biological agents to provide goods and services (Bullet al. , 1982, p. 21) or as any technique that uses living organisms (or parts of organisms) to make or modify products, to improve plants or animals, or to develop microorganisms for specific use (OTC, 1988). In line with these broad definitions we can consider marine biotechnology as the use of marine organisms or their constituents for useful purposes in a controlled fashion. This series will explore a range of scientific advances in support of marine biotechnology. It will provide information on advances in three categories: (1) basic knowledge, (2) ap plied research and development, and (3) commercial and institutional issues. We hope the presentation of the topics will generate interest and interaction among readers in the academic world, government, and industry. This first volume examines chemical and biological properties of some natural products that are useful or potentially useful in research and in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. One chapter describes a system for producing such substances on a large scale. Biotechnology incorporates molecular biology in order to go beyond tradi tional biochemical technology such as the production of antibiotic drugs from bacterial cultures in bioreactors. Development of the technology for production of antibiotics in this way resulted from fundamental advances in chemistry, phar macology, microbiology, and biochemical engineering.

Klappentext
The inaugural volume of this new series presents an in-depth examination of the chemical and biological properties of selected natural products that are either currently used or have the potential for useful applications in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

Inhalt
1 Biomedical Potential of Marine Natural Products.- 2 Isolation, Structural and Mode-of-Action Studies on Bioactive Marine Natural Products.- 3 Pharmacological Studies of Novel Marine Metabolites.- 4 Eicosanoids and Related Compounds from Marine Algae.- 5 Marine Proteins in Clinical Chemistry.- 6 Medical and Biotechnological Applications of Marine Macroalgal Polysaccharides.- 7 Antitumor and Cytotoxic Compounds from Marine Organisms.- 8 Antiviral Substances.- 9 The Search for Antiparasitic Agents from Marine Animals.- 10 Dinoflagellates as Sources of Bioactive Molecules.- 11 Production of ?-Carotene and Vitamins by the Halotolerant Alga Dunaliella.- 12 Marine Microorganisms: A New Biomedical Resource.- 13 Academic Chemistry and the Discovery of Bioactive Marine Natural Products.