BIODIVERSITY UTILIZATION IN MADAGASCAR AND SURINAME

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The overall goals of this International Cooperative Biodiversity group are to achieve the threefold mission of biodiversity conservation, economic development and drug discovery in the countries of Suriname and Madagascar. The proposed research integrates the work of seven different associate programs into a coherent whole to achieve these goals. In Suriname plants will be collected primarily by teams from Conservation International, with some recollections being done by botanists from Missouri Botanic Garden (MBG). The plants will be extracted by workers at the Surinamese company Bedrijf Geneesmiddelen Voorziening Suriname (BGVS) and then bioassays for both pharmaceutical and agrochemical activity will be carried out BGVS, a Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutic Research Institute (BMS), at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPISU) and at DowElanco. Activities of interest include antibacterial, anti-cancer, anti-mycobacterial, anti-malarial, anti-fungal, cardiovascular, CNS, and anti-viral activities in the pharmaceutical area, and insecticidal and anti-fungal activities in the agrochemical area. Active extracts will be fractionated and the structures of active compounds determined at BGVS, VPISU, or BMS, depending on the activity found. Compounds with novel structure and/or novel activities that are of interest for drug development will be patented and subjected to further testing at BMS or DowElanco, depending on the activity. Royalties will be paid to Suriname on sales of compounds that proceed to clinical or agrochemical use. In Madagascar, plants will be collected primarily by botanists from Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG), with simultaneous ethnobotanical work being carried out by teams from Conservation International. The plants will be extracted by workers at the Centre National d'Application et des Recherches Pharmaceutiques (CNARP). Subsequent bioassays, fractionation studies, and chemistry will be carried out by CNARP, BMS, DowElanco, and VPISU, in the interest areas described above, and royalties will be paid to Madagascar on sales of any pharmaceuticals or agrochemicals that are developed from this work. In addition to the drug discovery work outlined above, the Group will also carry out economic development and biodiversity conservation initiative in both Suriname and Madagascar. In Suriname the work will include documentation of traditional ethnobotanical knowledge and training in both modern systems such as GIS and in traditional knowledge through the "Shaman's Apprentice" program. In Madagascar the work will include the completion of biodiversity surveys of well-defined forest preserves, as well as training in botanical methods at Missouri Botanical Garden.