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Novel Antimicrobials from Endophytes of Northern Medicinal Plants (TEJAM)
Start date: Apr 1, 2008, End date: Mar 31, 2010 PROJECT  FINISHED 

"Antibacterial resistance is spreading globally at an alarming rate and continues to increase. New potent antimicrobials are therefore continually needed. In recent years, new antibacterial compounds have mainly been additions to the existing classes of drugs and truly new structures have rarely been developed. The derivatives of existing drugs however raise bacterial resistance much faster than completely new compounds. Pharmaceutical industry has little interest in developing new structures due to high investment and low profit expectancy. To overcome the chronic problem of antibiotic resistance, totally new compounds and approaches are required, involving collaboration of researchers from various disciplines, as well as high societal investments. The TEJAM project involves the highly experienced Fellow, Dr. M.V. Tejesvi (University of Mysore, India) and Departments of Biology and Chemistry at the University of Oulu, Finland. Both participants (Fellow and Host Institution) have a similar history of screening for bioactive compounds from endophytes, internal plant microbes. The project aims at i) discovery of totally new antimicrobial, as well as antioxidant and antihypertensive compounds from one of the richest untapped natural sources, endophytes, ii) development of new methods for efficient drug discovery from endophytes and iii) increased international collaboration in the area of discovery of novel bioactive compounds. During the TEJAM project, new high-throughput methods will be tested and used for screening and developing new leads for the pharmaceutical industry. TEJAM is utilizing and optimizing state-of-the-art methods, such as HT robotic screening and metagenomics, on the endophyte research. The project is closely linked to two consortia focused on research of new antimicrobials and will potentially strengthen the basis for business and pharmaceutical industry in Europe."
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