Special Issue "Bioactive Compounds from Marine Sponges"

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. René Wijffels
Bioprocess Engineering Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Website: http://www.bpe.wur.nl/UK/Staff/Professor+Ren%C3%A9+Wijffels/
E-Mail:
Phone: +31 (0)317 485761

Guest Editor
Dr. Detmer Sipkema
Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
E-Mail:

Dear Colleagues,

Since many years marine sponges have been ranked at the top with respect to the discovery of bioactive compounds with potential pharmaceutical applications. The diversity in chemical structures of sponge-derived metabolites is related to an equally diverse pattern of activities ranging from anti-fouling to anti-HIV properties. These discoveries have attracted the attention of bioprocess engineers, cell biologists, chemists, geneticist and microbiologists around the world to develop feasible strategies for obtaining sponge-derived metabolites at a larger scale. This is a ‘must’ to bridge the distance between the ocean and the hospital, or to start clinical trials in the first place. A few successful examples of introductions of marine sponge-derived pharmaceuticals have followed the discovery of the first bioactive compounds in sponges. Since these first publications in the 1950s the number of discovered bioactive compounds in sponges has exploded and in this special issue we aim to compile and review the state of the art of developments in sponge-chemistry, -biotechnology, -microbiology and –genetics to reap these fruits of the sea in a sustainable way.

Prof. Dr. René Wijffels
Dr. Detmer Sipkema
Guest Editors

Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Marine Drugs is an international peer-reviewed Open Access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs).

• sponge
• natural product
• cell culture
• chemical synthesis
• genetic modification
• symbiosis