July 23, 2013 – “Mendel Biotechnology, Inc., and Fundación MEDINA have entered into a license collaboration that will enable Mendel to identify novel biostimulant products….”

Bill Fenical’s group has reported discovery of a novel marine bacterial product, anthracimycin, active against Bacillus anthracis and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, doi: 10.1002/anie.201302749, published online 17 June 2013).  This compound, derived from marine bacteria, may represent a new class of antibacterial compounds. (Highlighted: C&ENews, 1 July 2013, p 19; Angew. Chem. 17 June 2013).

United States Pharmacopeial Convention announced Monday the availability of a new compendium that “offers freely available testing standards to help ensure the quality of herbal ingredients used in traditional medicines”

Douglas Kinghorn (PI, Ohio State University College of Pharmacy) and colleagues will work closely with Guy Carter (Biosortia Chief Scientific Officer) to discover new, active compounds with activity toward human colon and other cancers from pre-fractionated extracts from microorganism corsortia.

The SciFinder Science in the News series has posted three videos (Feb 22 to Mar 21) on YouTube highlighting “ever-evolving and important world of” natural products chemistry.  Featured in the videos are Doug Kinghorn, Gordon Cragg and Roger Schenck.  Part 1 can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyxaVbtBZ9Q, Part 2 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG9Cn_WYexk, and Part 3 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdwQBpC9fm4.