HARBOR BRANCH - OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

DISCOVERY SCIENCE CHANNEL SPECIAL TO SHOWCASE HARBOR BRANCH AND THE SEARCH FOR DRUGS FROM THE SEA

On Friday, June 4, SCIENCE OF THE DEEP: MEDICINE FROM THE SEA, featuring Harbor Branch's Biomedical Marine Research group, will premiere at 9:00 p.m. on The Science Channel (for more information see: http://science.discovery.com/convergence/scienceofdeep/medicine.html).

This 1-hour documentary, which also highlights research at Oregon State University and the Scripps Oceanographic Institution in San Diego, focuses on the worldwide search for animals and microorganisms from the seafloor that produce chemicals with the potential to fight diseases such as cancer or boost the human immune system.

Harbor Branch is a globally recognized leader in this important quest. Since its work in the field began in 1984, Harbor Branch has discovered and patented over 100 compounds from marine organisms, including one that is currently in clinical human trials as a cancer treatment and about a dozen other promising treatments in development.

A videographer for MEDICINE FROM THE SEA joined the Harbor Branch team for a November 2003 expedition aboard the R/V Seward Johnson II to the Bahamas. There the scientists used Harbor Branch's Johnson-Sea-Link I submersible and scuba to explore reefs as deep as 3,000 feet looking for new organisms, as well as organisms needed to support ongoing studies.

Besides offering a rare, inside view of an expedition, the show also takes viewers to San Antonio, Texas, where doctors are using the Harbor Branch-discovered drug discodermolide in clinical trials to treat cancer patients who are no longer responding to conventional chemotherapy.

MEDICINE FROM THE SEA was produced for The Science Channel by David Clark Inc.

HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic Institution is one of the world's leading nonprofit oceanographic research organizations. It is dedicated to the exploration and conservation of the earth's oceans, estuaries, and coastal regions for the benefit of humankind.

The Science Channel is part of Discovery Networks, U.S., a unit of Discovery Communications, Inc., which also operates and manages the Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, the Travel Channel, Discovery Health Channel, Discovery HD Theater, Discovery Kids Channel, Discovery Times Channel, Discovery Wings Channel, Discovery Home Channel, Discovery en Espa-ol and FitTV. The unit also distributes BBC AMERICA.

For more on Harbor Branch's Division of Biomedical Marine Research CLICK HERE.

For more information, please contact Mark Schrope at 772-216-0390 or schrope@hboi.edu.

HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic Institution was founded in Ft. Pierce, Fla., in 1971 to support the exploration and conservation of the world's oceans. The institution has held to this mission and grown into one of the world's leading oceanographic institutions with a 500-acre campus, over 200 personnel, and a fleet of sophisticated research ships and submersibles.