Abstract

This book offers an integrated review of the most recent trends in natural products drug discovery and key lead candidates that are outstanding for their chemistry and biology as a starting point in novel drug development. The authors focus on different trends that are and will continue to be impacting multiples stages of modern drug discovery from NPs that have not been included in other works. This is complemented with a series of case studies from leading experts from industry and academia on key molecules and derivatives that have been chosen for their novelty in chemistry, biology and clinical applications. The book intends to reflect the current confluence of different disciplines in chemical biology and synthetic chemistry supported by a more profound knowledge of systems biology that ensures the concurrency and synergisms of expertise from different research fields that impact in the discovery of novel molecules. In the first section the chapters reflect recent approaches to exploit the biosynthetic potential of microbial resources (including genome mining, metagenomic and epigenetic approaches), as well as biosynthetic chemistry tools to respond to product supply and novel screening alternatives that have lead to the discovery of novel chemistry. The second part reviews, in the form of case studies, some examples of bioactive molecules in the important therapeutic areas of antiinfectives, oncology and antiparasitics.
Olga Genilloud obtained her Ph.D. in Chemistry (Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics) in 1988 from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. After a short stay at the Microbiology Department at Harvard Medical School in Boston, in 1989 she joined the Centro de Investigacion Basica de Espana (CIBE), at Merck Sharp and Dohme in Spain, where she has led for nineteen years the discovery of bacterial natural products as new leads for drug development. In February 2009 she was appointed Scientific Director of Fundacion MEDINA. She is a member of many different scientific societies and has extensive experience in the coordination and management of international scientific working groups and is actively contributing to different Master and Pre-doctoral teaching programs. M¬ Francisca Vicente has a Ph.D. in Biology and Molecular Genetics (1986, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid) and more than 10 years experience in R&D, managing teams and working in the multidisciplinary environment of multinational pharmacy (Merck Sharp and Dohme, Spain) and other research centres (Institute Pasteur, and Hospital Necker, France). She has been in charge of the design, implementation, and supervision of many R&D projects. She is experienced in identifying and managing the economic resources for developing new scientific and technological projects. She has coordinated and managed national and international research groups. Her teaching experience was gained by giving practical and theoretical classes in different masters and university programs. In February 2009, she joined the Fundacion MEDINA as Area Head of the Screening and Target Validation Department.