Some 45 percent of all approved cancer products. Plants and microorganisms can be extremely useful in the production these medicines or precursors for these medicines. Collectively, photosynthetic plants and microorganisms have a broad array of biosynthetic capabilities for the production of drugs. The discovery /manipulation of gene networks in these organisms could lead to development of new medicines and to significant human health benefits. Consequently, we propose the initial stage of a multi-phase SBIR project aimed at developing and producing a line of inexpensive,high-sample-throughput, multigene assay systems ("Plant Chips") for use in testing plants and non-medical microbes and algae for their capacities to produce medicines. The Phase I proof-of-concept project is designed to demonstrate the feasibility of using the AndCare platform to detect metabolic pathways or key steps in pathways by gene-expression analysis. For Phase I, we propose to develop a prototype "algal chip" and to demonstrate its effectiveness in detecting patterns of gene expression in selected strains of marine microalgae. The chip-based assays will be designed to detect and characterize metabolic pathways that may lead to the production of drugs or drug precursors. Phase I success will set the stage for follow-on Phase II optimization and demonstration. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: Efforts over the past 30 years have documented that species inhabiting the marine environment particularly have many unusual chemical substances, some of which will be useful in the development of pharmaceuticals. Success in carrying out the work proposed here will lead to almost unlimited potential commercial application in the drug discovery and development marketplace, addressing important needs in treating cancer and other human diseases and conditions.
