Many strategies are currently used by researchers and pharmaceutical companies to search for new drugs for medical and pharmaceutical purposes. The choice of a strategy depends primarily on the costs involved, team background in a given area, and/or promising results pointed at certain approaches. Ethnobotanical/ethnopharmacological studies are proving to be powerful tools in the search for new...

Kehinde Apara draws on artificial intelligence and her own family background to source flora for work at a California bioprospecting company.

Recent metagenomic studies have revealed that microbial diversity in the atmosphere rivals that of surface environments. This indicates that the atmosphere may be worth bioprospecting in for novel microorganisms, especially those selected for by harsh atmospheric conditions. This is interesting in light of the antibiotic resistance crisis and renewed interests in bioprospecting for members of t...

Bacterial polyketides are highly biologically active molecules that are frequently used as drugs, particularly as antibiotics and anticancer agents, thus the discovery of new polyketides is of major interest. Since the 1980s discovery of polyketides has slowed dramatically due in large part to the repeated rediscovery of known compounds. While recent scientific and technical advances have impro...