Date: 1/10/2007
Scientists at San Diegoâs Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California have solved the genome puzzle of an organism discovered in the oceans with potential for producing compounds showing promise in treating diseases such as cancer. Salinispora was discovered in 1991 by Scrippsâ Paul Jensen and William Fenical in shallow ocean sediment off the Bahamas. Its product, salinspormide A, is currently in human clinical trials for treating multiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells in bone marrow, as well as for treating solid tumors.