1. Melanesia Experiences in Marine Drug Discovery at University of the South Pacific” Prof. B. Aalbersberg and K.-D. Feussner CDDC, IAS, USP

2. Bioprospecting - Background 25-50% of western medicines are derived from natural sources (e.g. aspirin, quinine, many anti- cancer agents and anti biotic drugs) Sales near $800 billion Process takes 15–20 years and costs $800 million 1 in 10,000 chance to develop medicine from given organism

3. Bioprospecting Process - 1 1.Permitting 2.Collecting 3.Extraction 4.Bioactivity Testing 5.Fractionation and Purification 6.Structure elucidation

4. Bioprospecting Process - 2 7.Organism Identification and Recollection 8.Structure – Activity Relationships 9.Toxicology Tests 10.Clinical Trials 11.Pray

5. Microbial Bioprospecting 1.Plating substrate 2.Colony Isolation and Purification 3.Fermentation 4.Extraction of Ferment 5.As in macroorganisms

6. Genetic Material DNA can be extracted, amplified and sequenced Sections of genome that are responsible for various functions (diseases, chemical production) can be identified

7. Work at USP 1.Permitting 2.Collecting 3.Extraction 4.Bioactivity Testing 5.Fractionation and Purification 6.Structure elucidation

8. Types of Samples Organism Extracted chemicals Extracted DNA

9. Convention on Biological Diversity and Access and Benefit Sharing Prior informed consent Fair agreement on mutually agreed terms Participation and sharing of benefits Environmentally sound uses

10. Types of Benefits Cash (sample fee and royalties) Help in resource management Voucher specimen Legal review Participation in work and capacity building Sharing results Transfer of technology Access to biotech outcomes

11. ABS and Fiji 1995 Verata Project Full policy under the Sustainable Development Bill (1997?) Ad-hoc policies of Forestry (terrestrial) and Fisheries (marine) Interest of AG’s office Availability from CBD Secretariat of Model Provisions

12. USP Marine Collaborations 1980s UC Santa Cruz (Fiji) 1990s Utah University (Fiji and Van.), Strathclyde (Verata project) 2000s Georgia Tech (Fiji), PharmaMar 2010s Georgia Tech, CRRF (USNIH) (SI), 2015 Nagoya Fund (SI)

13. Bioactivity Screens 1.Antimicrobial (fungi + bacteria – resistant strains) 2.Anti – cancer test brine shrimp cell lines mechanism based 3.Others possible, e.g. malaria, dengue, Alzheimer, TB, anti-ageing

14. Potential role of CDDC in regional program Repository of collected specimens (Univ Utah, CRRF (NIH), GIT, JIB, GEF) Both, for macrosamples and microbes Bioprospecting partner Annual reports to governments