Building natural products

Natural products are molecules produced by living organisms and include some of our most powerful drugs. Emerging discoveries in this field have allowed scientists to deepen our understanding of how natural products are assembled and how they can be harnessed for widespread applications.

This program at Discover BMB 2024 is focused on recent advances in natural product biochemistry and biotechnology. The first session focuses on the emerging area of natural products from higher eukaryotes and animals; the second session focuses on natural products from microbiomes and symbionts; and the final session focuses on the biochemistry and biotechnology of natural product genome mining.

We’ll hear about the amazing discoveries in this field, some of which were powered by major technological advances. We’ll also hear how discoveries in natural products biochemistry are now in turn powering new applications in biotechnology related to biocatalysis, agriculture and sustainable chemical production.

Keywords: Natural products, biocatalysis, microbiome.

Who should attend: Anyone interested in natural products, biocatalysis, the microbiome or the future of biotechnology.

Theme song: “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane

This session is powered by alkaloids.

Advances in natural products biochemistry and technology

Natural products from higher eukaryotes and animals

Chair: Yi Tang

Bradley Moore, University of California, San Diego

Rebecca Butcher, University of Florida
Emily Derbyshire, Duke University

Jing-Ke Weng, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research

Natural products from microbiomes and symbionts

Chair: Katherine Ryan

Jason Crawford, Yale University

Nancy Keller, University of Wisconsin—Madison

Alessandra Eustaquio, University of Illinois Chicago

Mohammad Seyedsayamdost, Princeton University

Biochemistry and biotechnology of natural product genome mining

Chair: Alessandra Eustaquiol

Jamie Link, Princeton University

Katherine Ryan, University of British Columbia

Gerald Wright, McMaster University

Yi Tang, University of California, Los Angeles