The 7-8 October 2021 took place the Kick-off meeting of MARBLES at Kasteel Oud Poelgeest (Leiden, the Netherlands). MARBLES (Harnessing Marine Microbes for Drug Discovery and Sustainable Production of Fish and Crops) is a €7.5 million 5-years project that will develop new methods for the sustainable collection and use of biological resources from marine environments and assess their commercial potential as source of new eco-friendly solutions in pharmaceutical, agriculture and aquaculture settings. Microorganisms derived from marine sponges, microalgae and fish and their bioactive natural products will be evaluated as agents that will help to increase the efficacy of fish production and the transition of the agricultural crop sector towards bio-basesd and circular solutions. New antibiotics against human pathogens will also be investigated. MEDINA will lead one of the work packages focused on the creation of new libraries of extracts, the biological screening against human, plant and fish pathogens, and the large scale production and industrial validation of the most interesting natural product hit candidates identified during the development of the project.
