Marine Natural Products

Austria is a landlocked country offering very limited options to study marine natural products. However, cooperation with the Thai Prince of Songkla University in Hat Yai enables to investigate structures and properties of pharmaceutically interesting compounds from marine organisms. Marine life forms are in an environment that offers entirely different conditions compared to those of terrestrial species. All body functions of marine species are thus adapted to the high density of surrounding water. Also defense and attack strategies are based on mechanisms optimized for these environmental conditions. In particular, organisms that cannot mov...