Exploring the Industrial Value of the Portuguese Deep Sea Microorganisms

The interest in the usage of marine natural sources for bioactive discovery has increased tremendously in the last decade. BIOALVO owns a unique collection of more than 100 prokaryotic extremophiles isolated from deep sea hydrothermal vents in the Mid Atlantic Rift, near the Azores Islands. The extreme conditions of temperature and chemical composition of those vents make these microorganisms potential sources for bioactive compounds. Based on this assumption, a collection of both aqueous and organic extracts produced from those microorganisms, entitled PharmaBUG, has been tested for both pharmaceutical and cosmetic usages in BIOALVO’s internal research projects and also in collaboration with partners. In order to expand the PharmaBUG library, new strains are being selected based on the diversity of environments from which they derive. The expanded collection is expected to reach 100.000 extracts, at the end of 2013. BIOALVO presents itself as a one-stop-shop for natural product development, based not only on its extensive, yet continuously expanding, comprehensive natural extract library and corresponding bioactivities, but also on expert and customizable assay development, which can be coupled to an in-house robotized screening facility, effectively speeding up the testing process and bringing a natural product solution closer and quicker to market