OCEAN SCIENCE LECTURE SERIES |
|
Like the rainforests, the oceans shelter countless yet-to-be-discovered animal and plant species, some of which
likely produce compounds that could fight diseases ranging from AIDS to cancer. HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic
Institution has emerged as a world leader in the search for such compounds. On Wed., March 12, for the next event
in the ongoing Ocean Science Lecture Series, Dr. Amy Wright, Director of HARBOR BRANCH's Division of Biomedical
Marine Research will explain the ocean drug discovery process. She will outline the path from sample collection
via deep-sea submersibles and scuba diving, to laboratory tests to identify potential therapeutic activity, to
clinical investigations and also describe recent expeditions to the South Atlantic Bight and the Bahamas in
search of new species.
Dr. Wright has been working in the field of marine natural products chemistry for nearly 25 years. Her primary research interest is the purification and structure identification of naturally occurring compounds that could help treat cancer. She earned her doctorate in Organic Chemistry from the University of California, Riverside in 1984 and has written over 50 scientific publications. Dr. Wright also holds 16 U.S. patents on marine natural products as well as numerous foreign patents. Dr. Wright will give her talk at both 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on Wed., March 12, at the main auditorium of the Johnson Education Center at HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic Institution, 5600 U.S. 1 North, Fort Pierce, FL. The talk is free to the public. For more information, please contact the Marine Education Office at 772-465-2400, ext. 506, or email education@hboi.edu. FULL SCHEDULE FOR 2003 OCEAN SCIENCE LECTURE SERIES: January 8 - Shirley Pomponi & Don Liberatore - Submersible Science at Harbor Branch: Looking from the Inside Out January 15 - John Tucker - Marine Foodfish Culture and Stocking January 22 - Edie Widder - Bioluminescent Oddities and Wonders January 29 - Ned Smith - What Goes Around Comes Around: The Gulf Stream and the Circulation of the North Atlantic Ocean February 5 - Greg Bossart - Emerging Diseases in Marine Mammals: Should "Flipper" Be Worried? February 12 - Tammy Frank - Lifestyles of the Very Hot, the Very Cold and the Very Deep: How Do They Survive There? February 19 - Clay Cook - "Hunger Makes Strange Bedfellows": Symbiosis of Algae with Corals, Sea Anemones and other Marine Organisms February 26 - Joe Lopez - The World as a Classroom: Molecular Studies of Marine Biodiversity in the Field March 5 - Lee Frey - Robot Explorers: A Look at Unmanned Underwater Vehicles March 12 - Amy Wright - DBMR: The Deep Sea-Link to Drug Discovery March 19 - Megan Davis & Ken Riley - A Fish Eye's View of Aquaculture March 26 - Dennis Hanisak - "The Gleaming Indian River with Its Waves of Blue": Poetic License or Remembrances of Things Past? (Kermit Returns) HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic Institution, Inc., is one of the world's leading nonprofit oceanographic research organizations dedicated to exploration of the earth's oceans, estuaries and coastal regions for the benefit of humankind. CONTACTS: Mark Schrope - Science Writer 772-465-2400 x433) • schrope@hboi.edu Jan Petri - Government and Public Relations 772-465-2400 x241 • petri@hboi.edu |