Biodiversity and Drug Discovery in the Phillipines

描述(申请人提供)：菲律宾群岛包含7,107个岛屿，是世界上12个处于三个生物地理区交界处的“巨型多样性”国家之一。菲律宾拥有世界上已知的700种珊瑚物种中的500多种--这是地球上珊瑚种类最丰富的地方，菲律宾的海洋生态系统也被认为是世界上最濒危的。非同寻常的陆地和海洋生物多样性和广泛的濒危条件相结合，使菲律宾跻身世界五大高度优先保护“热点”之列。为了积极保护和探索这种非同寻常的生物多样性，菲律宾制定了一套先进的环境立法制度，其中第247号行政命令规定了对参与生物勘探的国际组织的关键规定。这笔规划赠款的目的是促进菲律宾大学和密歇根州立大学之间的新的合作努力，这些努力将在菲律宾建设侧重于药物发现和微生物遗传资源记录的基础设施、技术和培训。首先，将根据EO245达成一项广泛适用的知识产权和商业研究协议(CRA)，菲律宾大学(UP)、密歇根州立大学(Michigan State University)、菲律宾政府以及当地土著人口的需求都可以接受。其次，研究将对临床前数据不完整的有前景的药用植物进行批判性评估和优先排序，例如菲律宾药用植物和草药登记处列出的许多物种，以及由土著群体草药医生确定并由UP教师编目的新物种。第三，将利用基于核糖体RNA的分子方法组织和实施试点研究，以评估从三个哨兵地理地点开始的陆地和海洋微生物群落的复杂性。以联合计划的形式追求这些互补目标将涉及药物发现和微生物生物多样性的记录，使用广泛适用于菲律宾、亚洲和世界其他地区陆地和海洋生物的技术。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Philippine Island archipelago contains 7,107 islands and is one of the world's 12 "mega diversity" countries at the junction of three bio-geographic zones. The Philippines contains more than 500 of the world's 700 known coral species - the richest diversity of coral on the planet, and the Philippines' marine ecosystems are also considered the most endangered in the world. The combination of extraordinary terrestrial and marine biodiversity and widespread endangering conditions, places the Philippines in the world's top five high priority conservation "hotspots." To aggressively protect and explore this extraordinary biodiversity, the Philippines developed an advanced system of environmental legislation, in which Executive Order 247 defines critical regulations for international groups involved in bioprospecting. The objective of this planning grant is to facilitate new collaborative efforts between the University of the Philippines and Michigan State University that will build infrastructure, technology and training in the Philippines focused on drug discovery and documentation of microbial genetic resources. First, a broadly applicable intellectual property and commercial research agreement (CRA) will be forged in accordance with EO245, acceptable to the University of the Philippines (UP), Michigan State University, the government of the Philippines, and the needs of local indigenous populations. Secondly, research will critically evaluate and prioritize promising medicinal plants with incomplete pre-clinical data, such as many species listed in the Philippines Registry of Medicinal Plants and Herbs as well as new species identified by indigenous group herbalists and catalogued by UP faculty. Thirdly, work will organize and implement pilot studies using ribosomal RNA based molecular methods to assess the complexity of terrestrial and marine microbial communities beginning in three sentinal geographic sites. Pursuit of these complementary aims in the form of associate programs will address drug discovery and documentation of microbial biodiversity using techniques that are broadly applicable to both terrestrial and marine organisms in the Philippines, Asia and throughout the rest of the world.