NEWS
Letter of Support
TO: Ross Youngs CEO Biosortia, Inc 4266 Tuller Rd. Dublin, OH 43017
Dear Ross:
Many thanks for the long discussion re Biosortia and the attachments demonstrating some of the potential of what I might call “The Freshwater Cyanobiome”.
Over the last fifteen or so years, microbiologists and scientists from other disciplines have begun to investigate the human microbiome and by analogy, the microbiome of other organisms, many of which are from areas that people have not even considered as being a “Microbiome”. Examples of which would be the as yet uncultured microbes that exist inside of marine invertebrates, in particular sponges which I know that Guy Carter may well have been “mentioning these areas as future targets”. I should add that as yet uncultured microbes have had their active compounds traced back to beetles, so Mother Nature is rather promiscuous as to where she places bioactive molecules.
However, what Biosortia has done and effectively on a shoestring, is to take advantage of the freshwater cyanobacteria blooms that occur in inland lakes, and demonstrate that these naturally occurring blooms can contain previously unknown bioactive compounds, that though not usually a drug entity, can direct talented chemists towards a naturally occurring chemical structure that has potential in a variety of disease states.
Dr. David Newman Retired Chief, Natural Products Branch at National Cancer Institute (December 28, 2022 )
However, what Biosortia has done and effectively on a shoestring, is to take advantage of the freshwater cyanobacteria blooms that occur in inland lakes, and demonstrate that these naturally occurring blooms can contain previously unknown bioactive compounds, that though not usually a drug entity, can direct talented chemists towards a naturally occurring chemical structure that has potential in a variety of disease states.
New Micropeptins with Anti-Neuroinflammatory Activity Isolated from a Cyanobacterial Bloom
Metabolite mining of environmentally collected aquatic and marine microbiomes offers a platform for the discovery of new therapeutic lead molecules. Combining a prefractionated chromatography library with liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)-based molecular networking and biological assays, we isolated and characterized two new micropeptins (1 and 2) along with the previously characterized micropeptin 996. These metabolites showed potency in anti-neuroinflammatory assays using BV-2 mouse microglial cells, showing a 50% reduction in inflammation in a range from 1 to 10 μM. These results show promise for cyanobacterial peptides in the therapeutic realm apart from their impact on environmental health and provide another example of the utility of large prefractionated natural product libraries for therapeutic hit and lead identification.
American Chemical Society (June 4, 2021)
BIOSORTIA – AT SCALE MINING OF NATURE’S METABOLITE BOUNTY
Biosortia is building the world’s largest library of microbiome-derived compounds for therapeutic and other applications, by leveraging the company’s microbial harvesting platform to sample and mine aquatic microbiomes at unprecedented scales with sustainable and environmentally friendly approaches. Biosortia is seeking partners interested in accessing compounds and chemistries to develop biologically relevant small molecule leads.
Nature- biopharmadealmakers (November 30, 2020)
NEW TECHNOLOGY ACCESSES SMALL BUT MIGHTY MICROORGANISMS
NewsUSA (October 9, 2019) – 11|KTVA
CYANOBUFALINS: CARDIOACTIVE TOXINS FROM CYANOBACTERIAL BLOOMS
Columbus, OH (October 28, 2018) – Journal of Natural Products
- Aquatic microbiomes contain novel chemistry
- Novel chemistry previously undetectable & inaccessible
- Biosortia has proven capability of accessing previously undetectable and inaccessible chemistry in volumes sufficient for drug discovery
Microcystins Containing Doubly Homologated Tyrosine Residues from a Microcystis aeruginosa Bloom: Structures and Cytotoxicity
Four new microcystin congeners are described including the first three examples of microcystins containing the rare doubly homologated tyrosine residue 2-amino-5-(4-hydroxyphenyl)pentanoic acid (Ahppa) (1–4). Large-scale harvesting and biomass processing allowed the isolation of substantial quantities of these compounds, thus enabling complete structure determination by NMR as well as cytotoxicity evaluation against selected cancer cell lines. The new Ahppa-toxins all incorporate Ahppa residues at the 2-position, and one of these also has a second Ahppa at position 4. The two most lipophilic Ahppa-containing microcystins showed 10-fold greater cytotoxic potency against human tumor cell lines (A549 and HCT-116) compared to microcystin-LR (5). The presence of an Ahppa residue in microcystin congeners is difficult to ascertain by MS methods alone, due to the lack of characteristic fragment ions derived from the doubly homologated side chain. Owing to their unexpected cytotoxic potency, the potential impact of the compounds on human health should be further evaluated.
American Chemical Society (May 30, 2018)
