Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico en Algas y Otros Recursos Biológicos

Instructor: Prof. Sergey Dobretsov, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman, President of European Society for Marine Biotechnology, UNESCO Chair in Marine Biotechnology

Fecha: 22 - 27 Julio 2019

In the past, terrestrial organisms served as a reservoir of novel drugs and bioactive compounds. Nowadays, marine organisms, in particular macroalgae, provide a new source of novel bioactive compounds. Some of these novel compounds have been developed into commercial products, such as antibiotics, immunosuppressive, anti-inflammatory and cytotoxic agents, antitumor agents, cosmetics, repellents, catalysts, and pollutant degradation agents. Recently, new advanced techniques in microscopy, molecular biology and analytic chemistry have been developed. These allow us to study the effect of the secondary metabolites of macroalgae on surrounding marine organisms (microbes, invertebrates and algae). This marine biotechnology course is designed to give practical and theoretical knowledge about bioactive compounds from marine macroalgae and their effect on marine microbes. During this course you will learn how to isolate and test bioactivity of chemical compounds from seaweeds.

Prof. Dr. Sergey Dobretsov (Sultan Qaboos University, Oman) is the Director of the Center of Excellence in Marine Biotechnology and an Associate Professor of the Department of Marine Science and Fisheries, College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences. He works in the field of marine biotechnology, particularly marine biofouling, in which he has been working more than 25 years with polar, temporal and tropical fouling species. Some of the areas of interest include antifouling, interactions between microbes and invertebrates larvae, bioactive compounds from marine organisms, novel non-toxic antifouling defense, microbial biofilms on artificial substrata and antifouling paints, quorum sensing and anti-quorum sensing compounds, symbiotic microbes associated with marine organisms and bioremediation of oil spills.