Bioassay and Ecology Directed Drug Discovery in Panama

描述（由申请人提供）：这是一份延续申请，以继续我们在巴拿马的ICBG工作，将从自然来源发现药物的目标与东道国基础设施发展，培训，经济增长，生物多样性库存和保护相结合。过去的4.5年在所有这些方面都是高产的 这些努力主要发生在东道国和东道国机构。巴拿马 拥有非凡的植物和藻类生物多样性，这是由于其独特的并列北 加勒比海和太平洋之间。巴拿马是一个 “生物多样性热点”以及这些主要地理特征之间的生物走廊， 为高影响力的区域和国际保护战略提供了独特的机会。我们有 召集了一个来自巴拿马和美国学术机构的杰出团队， 制药和农用化学工业。我们建议团队努力探索的天然产品， 从各种陆生植物、海藻和蓝细菌中提取对几种热带疾病（利什曼病、恰加斯病和疟疾）、癌症（细胞和机制）和农业害虫具有活性的化合物。我们的生态方法来选择收集的植物，以及处理策略，保留生物活性材料，产生比其他预期更高的活性提取物的比率。我们 史密森热带研究所、国际保护组织和伍兹霍尔海洋研究所等主要机构都参与了保护工作。我们的方案与东道国机构有着非常积极的互动，并得到东道国机构的支持，通过我们的外联努力，我们继续提高巴拿马人对生物多样性价值的认识。两家合作公司（诺华和 Dow AgroSciences），一个专注于制药，另一个专注于农用化学品， 生物测试、财政和培训资源，以及发展有前途的 材料.所有的收集和生物测定信息都保存在一个网络数据库中， 所有团队成员以及东道国和美国政府合作伙伴都可以访问。一套完善的法律的文件确保了与巴拿马的知识产权和利益分享的高度有益的计划。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is a renewal application to continue our ICBG efforts in Panama which combine the goals of drug discovery from natural sources with host country infrastructure development, training, economic growth, biodiversity inventories, and conservation. The past 4.5 years have been highly productive in all of these areas, with the majority of effort occurring in the host country and at host country institutions. Panama possesses an extraordinary biodiversity of plants and algae owing to its unique juxtaposition between North and South America and between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. As such, Panama is a "biodiversity hotspot" as well as a biological corridor between these major geographical features, thus providing unique opportunities for high impact regional and international conservation strategies. We have assembled a remarkable team from Panamanian and US academic institutions as well as leaders in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries. We propose a team effort to explore the natural products of diverse terrestrial plants, marine algae and cyanobacteria for compounds active to several tropical diseases, (leishmaniasis, Chagas' disease, and malaria) cancer (cell- and mechanism-based) and agricultural pests. Our ecological approach to selecting plants for collection, as well as a processing strategy, which preserves biologically active materials, yields a higher rate of active extracts than otherwise expected. Our conservation efforts involve leading institutions such as the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Conservation International, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Our program has very positive interactions with, and support from, host country institutions, and through our outreach efforts we continue to improve the perceived value of biodiversity by Panamanians. The two collaborating companies (Novartis and Dow AgroSciences), one focused on pharmaceuticals and the other on agrochemicals, provide additional biotesting, financial and training resources, as well as a mechanism for the development of promising materials. All collection and bioassay information is maintained on a web database, and this insures excellent access by all team members as well as host country and US government partners. A well-developed set of legal documents assures a highly beneficial plan for intellectual property and benefit sharing with Panama.