From the Irish Coast to the NMR: Discovery of Marine Natural Products

Title: From the Irish Coast to the NMR: Discovery of Marine Natural Products

Speaker: Dr Laurence Jennings, SCMB

Abstract: Marine biodiversity is widely recognised as an untapped source of novel biomolecules with potential applications in agricultural, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. With approximately 200,000 ha of maritime area, Ireland harbours a still underexplored marine biodiversity that represents a significant reservoir of new chemical entities, including unique bioactive molecules. To explore this potential, the National Marine Biodiscovery Laboratory of Ireland was established at the Marine Institute in Oranmore to support marine biodiscovery research. This discovery campaign aimed to investigate Irish coastal organisms as a source of bioactive marine natural products. The programme involved collaborations with several academic researchers and industry partners to support the discovery and development of novel bioactive compounds with potential value-added applications.

Since 2020, several new natural products with promising biological properties have been discovered. A significant recent finding was the isolation and identification of a novel eleven-residue cysteine-rich bicyclic peptide, plumoside. This hydrogel-forming peptide contains a rare parallel tetracysteine ring motif previously reported only in the conotoxin T-1 family. The peptide was found to display potent modulation of ion channels associated with inflammatory pathways. Another discovery arose from the first chemical isolation of bryostatins from a marine nudibranch, which led to the identification of new derivatives displaying highly specific activity against Activated B-cell-like Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma, one of the most aggressive forms of cancer. Further studies resulted in the isolation of sixteen novel branched thiolane derivatives from the Irish marine worm Eupolymnia nebulosa, and four phthalate derivatives from the solitary ascidian Ascidia virginea. These compounds exhibited strong antioxidant activity, highlighting their potential for further investigation in pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications.

Biography: Laurence Jennings obtained his Ph.D. from Griffith University, Australia, in 2018, with a focus on marine natural products chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Anthony R. Carroll. He subsequently moved to Ireland to undertake a postdoctoral research position at the University of Galway. During this time, he was awarded a five-year Marine Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship, where his research focused on the investigation of pharmacologically active secondary metabolites from Irish coastal organisms. Following this, he held a one-year Lead Researcher position in natural products chemistry at the Technology Innovation Institute in Abu Dhabi. His primary research interests are the isolation and identification of bioactive marine natural products, with a particular focus on the structural elucidation of complex molecules using NMR spectroscopy and computational methods.