Marine organisms are considered a rich source of new bioactive molecules. While numerous promising candidates have been isolated from marine organisms, large areas of the world's oceans remain unexplored. In particular, the Red Sea is a largely untapped, uncharted source of bioactives. In this research area, we are conducting cytological profiling of pre-fractionated extracts from marine organisms including algae, sponges, bacteria and deep-sea invertebrates of the Red Sea by imaging-based High Content Screening (HCS) to a full spectrum of cellular markers. Our data show that HCS is a suitable approach for the characterization of biological extracts of unknown chemical composition and allows quantitative measurements at the single-cell level, which will facilitate rapid identification of promising sources for bioactive molecules.
Library of sponge extracts. Photography by Aubrie O'Rourke.