The Center for Natural Products, Drug Discovery and Development, or CNPD3, and the Department of Chemistry jointly hosted the 3rd RM1 Trainee Meeting at the University of Florida on March 12, 2026. Supported by the NIH NIGMS RM1 grant titled “Integrative Multidisciplinary Discovery Platform to Unlock Marine Natural Product Therapeutic Opportunities,” this event brought together trainees and faculty working on this flagship grant to showcase cutting-edge research across disciplines. The day began with a welcome and a brief overview of the RM1 grant led by leading principal investigator and Professor Hendrik Luesch, Ph.D., followed by 15 trainee presentations across the five major aims, which highlighted the extensive progress the team has made in our “Genomes to Natural Products to Drugs” Initiative.
Key highlights:
- Genomic comparison and biosynthetic potential of cyanobacteria
- Using untargeted metabolomics for target isolation of sponge metabolites
- Metagenome-guided discovery and characterization of marine natural product biosynthetic pathways
- Protein language model-based stereochemical prediction in natural products
- Development of synthetic biology platform for heterologous expression of standalone protein and entire biosynthetic gene clusters
- Characterization of tailoring enzymes in the biosynthesis of marine cyanobacterial natural products
- From screening challenges to active compounds: discovering yeast-targeted antifungals
- Distinct neuromuscular, epithelial and organogenesis phenotypes in C. elegans to classify marine natural products and predict mechanisms of action
- Isolation of PKS/NRPS based compounds using bioactivity- and targeted metabolomics approaches
Trainees and collaborators from Princeton University and the Smithsonian Marine Station also joined virtually A special thanks to Ranjala Ratnayake, Ph.D., for organizing this special event, Niki Walia and Annette Hill for organizing lunch and refreshments as well as to all PIs, Co-Is, collaborators, trainees and staff for pushing the frontiers of marine natural products to unlock the therapeutic potential of marine natural products.