Cyanobacteria, also termed blue-green algae, occupy a unique phylogenetical position between bacteria and higher plants. Although being prokaryotic organisms they possess the ability of oxygenic photosynthesis. Like many microorganism, cyanobacteria can be grown in culture. Unlike most other microorganisms, cyanobacteria require light to grow. We are currently working to establish a library of cyanobacterial cultures.

Cyanobacteria (both from marine and non-marine sources) have proven to be a rich source of diverse metabolites. Cultured cyanobacteria are slow to grow and the yield of biomass per liter is low. This makes it difficult and time consuming to study these promising microorganisms by traditional phytochemical methods. Our lab is using modern and sensitive analytical techniques coupled with molecular target assays to circumvent these issues. We employ microcoil NMR in combination with ESI-MS techniques to lower the amount of pure material needed for structure elucidation to 50 -100 µg. We also use molecular target assays to verify activity, such as inhibition of the 20S proteasome. These assays also require a miniscule amount of material. This combination enables us to efficiently screen cultured cyanobacteria and isolate the active principle from shake flask size fermentations of 1-2L.