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J Pharmacol Ther Res 2017 Volume 1 Issue 2
allied
academies
November 02-03, 2017 Chicago, USA
4 th International Congress on
International Conference and Exhibition on
Drug Discovery, Designing and Development
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology: R&D
&
The term antibiotic was coined by Selman Waksman to
describe any compound produced by a microorganism that
is antagonistic to the growth of other microorganisms in high
dilution. Forty-three years after the structure determination
of penicillin, the structure of liposidomycin B, an inhibitor of
bacterial peptidoglycan synthesis, was uncovered in 1988.
The structure explains the function of the antibiotic and was
used as a motif for a science fiction film, Godzilla vs. Biollante
in 1989. A derivative having liposidomycin core-structure,
CAPZEN-45 has been recognized as a drug candidate for
extremely drug resistant (XRD) Mycobacterium tuberculosis .
In Japan, antibiotics and other microbial products has been
explored as enzyme inhibitors, antiviral and anticancer agents.
The Journal of Antibiotics, a flag journal for biologically active
small molecules from microorganisms, has many articles on
such microbial products as well as antibiotics. In addition, we
have clarified the structures and functions of many biologically
active small molecules such as tautomycin, tautomycetin,
reveromycin, ascamycin, epiderstatin, epogymnolactam, and
so on. Recently, we have uncovered a growth mechanism of
previously uncultured Leucobacter sp. by novel growth factors
released by Sphingopyxis sp. strain ASN212. In this seminar, I
will discuss the discovery of growth factors for Actinobacteria
for the understanding the complex microbial communities as
a network system, and for a general strategy for discovering
biologically active small molecules using coproporphyrin in lieu
of siderophore.
Speaker Biography
Makoto Ubukata has earned his PhD from Hokkaido University, the first modern
educational institution in Japan and started his career as a Synthetic Chemist in
1980. After Postdoctoral fellowships at Indiana University and RIKEN, he became a
Scientist at RIKEN in 1984. In RIKEN, he had spread his wings into the biological area
probing for deeper understanding in Chemistry and Biology using biologically active
small molecules. After 11 years working as a Scientist and Senior Scientist, he was
appointed as a Full Professor of Biotechnology Research Center, Toyama Prefectural
University. In 2003, he has moved his laboratory to Research Faculty of Agriculture,
Hokkaido University. He is the recipient of JSBBA Award for Young Scientist (1989),
Sumiki-Umezawa Memorial Award (1995), Japan Prize of Agricultural Science (2017),
and Yomiuri Award of Agricultural Science (2017). He has been Professor Emeritus
since 2015 and JSBBA Fellow since 2016. His current research interest includes the
study on the structure and function of biologically active small molecule, which might
help people.
e:
Makoto Ubukata
Hokkaido University, Japan
New strategy for discovering biologically active small molecules