Marine Natural Products is the study of the chemical composition and chemical processes of the world’s oceans.1 Research in the Gallimore group entails isolating secondary metabolites of Jamaica’s marine life – plants and animals. These secondary metabolites are characterized using various spectroscopic techniques and their bioactivities accessed.
In my research, I have worked on several species common to Jamaica’s coastal waters, including two (2) sponges: Halichondria melanodocia and Amphimedon compressa; one (1) ascidian: Clavelina picta; three (3) gorgonians: Plexaurella nutans, Pseudopterogorgia americana and Pseudopterogorgia bipinnata and two (2) algae: Gracilaria mammillaris and the pelagic invasive Sargassum species, Sargassum fluitans, Sargassum natans I and Sargassum natans VIII.
Research details entails isolation, characterization and bioactivity assessment (various cancer cell lines and microorganisms) of the above species. Structural modification of amphitoxin, a compound of the sponge, Amphimedon compressa is also carried out, as well as, compositional analysis of the Sargassum invasive species common to the island, with a view at informing value added production pathways of the species.
References:
Marine Chemistry http://www.nature.com/subjects/marine-chemistry (accessed Mar 30, 2016).
