In a pioneering research project scientists at IBM and the University of Aberdeen have collaborated to "see" the structure of a marine compound from the deepest place on the Earth using an atomic force microscope (AFM). The results of the project open up new possibilities in biological research which could lead to the faster development of new medicines in the future.
Last year, scientists from the University's Marine Biodiscovery Centre began work on a species of bacterium from a mud sample taken from the Mariana Trench. This pressure-tolerant bacterium, Dermacoccus abyssi, produced a chemical compound which could not be recognized. Using a technique called noncontact atomic force microscopy (AFM), scientists from IBM Research were able to image individual molecules with atomic resolution within one week. These images together with density functional theory calculations confirmed the identification as cephalandole A, which is actually known and originally isolated from a Taiwanese orchid.
For hundreds of years scientists have understood that a wide-range of unique resources exist in the natural environment, which have the potential to be used in the development of new medicines. Motivated by this insight, scientists at the Marine Biodiscovery Centre at the University of Aberdeen are focusing, in particular, on harnessing the potential of marine organisms as a source for the discovery of chemical compounds, which could be used to develop new treatments for cancer, inflammation, infection, and parasitic diseases.
Using high-resolution mass spectrometry, the scientists quickly identified the chemical composition of the compound, but determining its exact molecular structure was more challenging.
Original publication:
Gross L. et al.: Organic structure determination using atomic-resolution scanning probe microscopy. Nature Chemistry, published online: 1 August 2010 | doi:10.1038/nchem.765
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Keywords : AFM Atomic Force Microscopy Drug Discovery IBM Life Science Microscopy Molecule Nature Chemistry Pharma University of Aberdeeen
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