Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity in PNG

描述（由申请人提供）：本ICBG的总体目标是通过一套致力于评估、保护和合理利用巴布亚新几内亚（PNG）植物群和动物群的综合计划，改善人类健康和福祉。巴布亚新几内亚拥有超过3400万公顷的封闭热带森林，在世界上森林覆盖最多的热带国家中排名第九。了解巴布亚新几内亚的各种生物资源，对于管理和保护对土著文化至关重要的物种，以及制定可持续利用资源的战略至关重要。这项工作的一个中心假设是，有效的新疗法可以从巴布亚新几内亚植物群和动物群的天然产物中获得。这些疗法，无论是作为西药还是作为传统植物药销售，都可以为当地利益相关者和负责的巴布亚新几内亚机构提供所需的收入。这一收入将为巴布亚新几内亚的森林和珊瑚礁提供替代性的、非木材的经济价值，并激励保护生物多样性。该联盟的参与者包括：1）犹他州大学，将与杨百翰大学和迈阿密大学一起参与抗结核、抗艾滋病、抗疟疾、抗癌和神经药物的发现、天然产物的分离和结构测定以及资助管理; 2）巴布亚新几内亚大学，将与国家森林研究所一起参与植物清查和收集，民族医学植物收集，提取物制备和筛选、天然产品经济评估、与巴布亚新几内亚生物网络和环境与保护部一起制定知识产权立法、与非政府组织保护黑色素瘤组织一起开展外联和教育、与大自然保护协会一起开展海洋珊瑚礁保护和海洋无脊椎动物编目; 3）史密森学会，该学会将与伦敦自然历史博物馆一道，对从巴布亚新几内亚出口的巴布亚新几内亚植物群和动物群进行分析，并将数据送回; 4）惠氏研究公司将从独特的海洋和陆地生态位中分离放线菌、真菌和其他微生物，并分析这些微生物培养物和上述制备的植物提取物在其疾病焦点区域的药理学潜力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overarching goals of this ICBG are to improve human health and well being through an integrated set of programs dedicated to the assessment, conservation, and rational utilization of the flora and fauna of Papua New Guinea (PNG). With more than 34 million hectares of closed tropical forests, PNG ranks 9th among the most forested tropical countries of the world. Understanding of the full range of biological resources resident in PNG is essential for their management and the preservation of species critical to indigenous cultures, and for the development of strategies for sustainable resource use. It is a central hypothesis of this work that effective new therapeutics can be derived from the natural products of PNG flora and fauna. Such therapeutics, either as Western medicines or marketed as traditional phytomedicines, can provide needed revenue to local stakeholders and responsible PNG institutions. This income would provide alterative, non-timber, economic value to PNG forests and reefs and an incentive for the preservation of biological diversity. The participants in this consortium include: 1) the University of Utah, which will participate in anti-TB, anti-HIV, anti-malaria, anticancer, and neurotropic drug discovery with Brigham Young University and the University of Miami, natural products isolation and structure determination, and grant administration; 2) the University of Papua New Guinea, which will participate in plant inventory and collection with the National Forest Research Institute, ethnomedicinal plant collection, extract preparation and screening, natural product economic evaluation, the development of intellectual property rights legislation with PNG BioNET and the Department of Environment and Conservation, outreach and education with the NGO Conservation Melanesia, and marine reef conservation and marine invertebrate inventory with The Nature Conservancy; 3) the Smithsonian Institution, which, with the Natural History Museum, London, will execute analysis of PNG flora and fauna collections that have been exported from PNG, and data repatriation; 4) Wyeth Research will isolate actinomycetes, fungi and additional microbes from unique marine and terrestrial niches, and analyze these microbial cultures, and the plant extracts prepared above, for pharmacologic potential in their disease focus areas.