Natural products discovery and the NPDI collection

The non-profit research organization NPDI (Natural Products Discovery Institute) houses the former Merck natural products collection, which is available to researchers in the scientific community, to screen for pharmaceutical, agricultural, cosmeceutical and nutritional agents. In close collaboration with Fundación MEDINA, the combined collection comprises over 200K extracts from plant and microbial fermentation samples. These extracts are backed up with reserve materials and the producing cultures, as well as extensive experience in chemistry and microbiology. Recent screening of the NPDI collection for pharmaceutical uses has yielded hits from extracts, which, in 80% of the cases, have not been previously identified as biologically active. In addition, we have begun accumulating purified DNA preparations from our diverse actinomycete collection, as an additional resource for drug discovery, and over 10,000 DNA samples are now available. Exploration of the actinomycete genomic DNA sequences has demonstrated some interesting metabolic profiles. This poster will describe the collections, as well as terms under which researchers can access this productive resource through collaborations or fee-for-service arrangements.