The Ocean Pharmacy, The Future of Drugs from the Sea with Dr. Marc Slattery and Dr. Larry Niles

07/06/22 • 37 min

The future of our pharmaceuticals are from down under.... the surface of course!
Coral reefs are the new tropical rainforests when it comes to drug research. When you think about it, how else do you protect yourself when you are a sea sponge, you can't move, don't have any spines or spikes and are free game for any of the thousands of species living nearby? Well chemistry of course! Turns out some of this chemistry may help with the future of our pharmaceuticals!
And then to our crabbiest ally that you never knew about! The fact that we rely on Horseshoe crab blood to test all of our internal medical devices and vaccines is stunning! And the fact that we are affecting the environment in such a drastic fashion yet have a synthetic alternative that we can turn to is wild. Yet we still remain crab vampires in the name of healthcare!
For more information on the future of drugs from the sea and Dr. Marc Slattery's research click here. To watch his Ted talk "Drugs from the Sea: What do we lose when Coral reefs die?" click here.
For more information about the Horseshoe Crab Recovery Coalition Click here. Check out Dr. Larry Niles blog about his work right here.

The Aquatic Bisophere Project
The ABP is establishing a conservation Aquarium in the Prairies to help tell the Story of Water.
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Deep Dive: Dr. Greg Stone, The Metals Company, Electric Vehicle Batteries from Deep Sea Polymetallic Nodules

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We're not in a material crisis, we're in an atoms and molecules crisis. Welcome to the age of metals.
Polymetallic nodules sit on the sea floor and accumulate atoms from the Seawater. Every element on the periodic table is in solution in the Ocean. Halfway between Mexico and Hawaii there is a very high concentration of Nickel, Cobalt, Manganese, and Copper which is all of the metals that we need for electric cars. So why are we still strip mining huge areas around the world when we could just be picking up rocks from the bottom of the ocean?
"We go down from a ship on the surface. Then there’s a vehicle on the bottom. We haven’t come up with the word for it yet, it’s not really mining, it’s more like hoovering or vacuuming. We’re not destroying, we’re not fracking, we’re not grinding, we’re just picking rocks up." - Dr. Greg Stone

Listen to this episode for our full interview with Dr. Greg Stone, Chief Ocean Scientist from The Metals Company.

To learn more about the Metals Company click here. To learn more about Dr. Greg Stone Click Here and to listen to his podcast the Sea Has Many Voices click here.

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Deep Dive: Dr. Larry Niles, How Has Horseshoe Crab Blood Helped You?

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The fact that we rely on Horseshoe crab blood to test all of our internal medical devices and vaccines is stunning! And the fact that we are affecting the environment in such a drastic fashion yet have a synthetic alternative that we can turn to is wild. Yet we still remain crab vampires in the name of healthcare!
In this episode we learn all about Horsehsoecrabs, why we need them, what we do with their blood and why you should care! We talk with Dr. Larry Niles from the Horseshoecrab Recovery Coalition and boy do we get into it!
For more information about the Horseshoe Crab Recovery Coalition Click here. Check out Dr. Larry Niles blog about his work right here.

Water We Doing? - The Ocean Pharmacy, The Future of Drugs from the Sea with Dr. Marc Slattery and Dr. Larry Niles

Transcript

David Evans00:00:23.698

I'm sorry, bear with me this podcast is going to start on a very unusual note, HIV, leukemia, lymphoma, lung, pancreatic and breast cancer, herpes, and Ebola. So bizarrely, this is not only a list of viruses and cancers and diseases that you would hope to avoid. But all of these diseases also have one thing in common. They can all be treated by compounds that are found in the same organism naturally occurring.

David Evans