Advancing scientific frontiers
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Mote scientists are closer than ever to purifying the cancer-fighting compound(s) we discovered from shark immune cells—and helping unlock their potential medical benefits—after testing an extraction process involving other compounds called antibodies. Mote partnered with Green Mountain Antibodies to raise hundreds of antibodies (molecules that can recognize parts of proteins in the shark mixture). This year, the researchers learned that three of the antibodies reduced the mixture’s anti-cancer activity—suggesting they might be binding to the compound(s) Mote scientists aim to isolate.
This year, Mote scientists put those antibodies to work in a small-scale experimental effort to extract the cancer-fighting compound(s) from the mixture. So far, the antibodies have helped the researchers improve isolation procedures to allow more specific targeting of individual compounds. If any of the isolated compounds prove to be responsible for the activity Mote discovered—specifically inhibiting multiple types of human cancer cells without targeting healthy cells—it could lead to an exciting new resource for the biomedical community to describe and test in the quest for better cancer therapies.
Mote scientists are gearing up to present their findings to the biotechnology community in 2022 and are seeking partners and investors interested in maximizing the impact of this promising work. -
Mote scientists co-authored a peer-reviewed research paper describing the strange microscopic organisms in one of the Gulf of Mexico’s blue holes (underwater caves springs and sinkholes), which are being explored through Mote-led expeditions supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The paper “Gulf of Mexico blue hole harbors high levels of novel microbial lineages,” published in The ISME Journal with a first author from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, focuses on the blue hole known as Amberjack. There, the scientists discovered an extremely interesting microbial community dominated by a poorly understood species of Archaea (single-celled organisms that are distinct from bacteria) at the bottom of the hole. Known as Woesarchaeota, these organisms have very few genes that would be expected in low-oxygen and high-sulfide environments—the type of environment at the bottom of Amberjack hole—and yet they represented up to 58% of the community there. In general, the unusual community of microscopic life in Amberjack suggests that blue holes are important places for discovering microscopic organisms new to science and understanding how they thrive amid low oxygen and other conditions hostile to most living things. In May 2022, Mote scientists plan to lead the final blue hole expeditions in the current, NOAA-supported series.
Top photo by: Kristin Paterakis