First continuous marine sponge cell line established.

The potential of sponge-derived chemicals for pharmaceutical applications remains largely unexploited due to limited available biomass. Although many have attempted to culture marine sponge cells in vitro to create a scalable production platform for such biopharmaceuticals, these efforts have been mostly unsuccessful. We recently showed that Geodia barretti sponge cells could divide rapidly in M1 medium.

Breakthrough in Marine Invertebrate Cell Culture: Sponge Cells Divide Rapidly in Improved Nutrient Medium.

Sponges (Phylum Porifera) are among the oldest Metazoa and considered critical to understanding animal evolution and development. They are also the most prolific source of marine-derived chemicals with pharmaceutical relevance. Cell lines are important tools for research in many disciplines, and have been established for many organisms, including freshwater and terrestrial invertebrates.

Caenorhabditis elegans DAF-16/FOXO transcription factor and its mammalian homologs associate with age-related disease.

The insulin/IGF-1 signaling pathway is evolutionarily conserved and its function is mediated largely by FOXO transcription factors. Reduced insulin/IGF-1 signaling leads to translocation of FOXO proteins from the cytoplasm to the nucleus where they activate a set of genes that mediate oxidative stress, heat shock, and xenobiotic responses, innate immunity, metabolism, and autophagy. Disruptions in the insulin/IGF-1 signaling pathway affect lifespan in many species.