discovery, potential for development, potential for design—the field is still in the realm of the future.

In 1985, I wrote, “There are several reasons for the lack of development in the area of marine pharmaceuticals. . . .” and then cited the difficulties of retrieving a sustained, reliable harvest of marine organisms; insufficient quantities of material to allow for study completion; and difficulties culturing marine organisms in the lab. Unfortunately, the same holds true today.

In the 1970s, recombinant DNA techniques were mastered, and unique microorganisms living in ocean-floor hydrothermal vents were discovered. It became clear that the application of genetic engineering to all forms of marine life formed a synthesis. The field of marine biotechnology was on the map and included production of commercially and medically important chemicals from algae and marine invertebrates; production of transgenic fish, crustaceans, and molluscs for food; and genetically engineered medicines and vaccines.

Seaweeds are an abundant source of food and food products, including carrageenan, vitamins, nutrients, and animal-feed additives. Chitin and chitosan, the polysaccharides derived from the exoskeletons of marine crustaceans, are used as gelling agents to control ice formation in frozen foods, as antifungal agents for agriculture, and as sutures and poultices in medical applications.

The discovery of many toxic molecules in ocean creatures indicated that the ocean was a likely source of pharmaceuticals. Despite nearly 40 years of research, there are only a few approved pharmaceuticals derived from marine organisms. These pharmaceuticals include materials originally isolated from marine sponges (the antiviral acyclovir, AZT, and the anticancer drug Ara-C) and cephalosporins, the antibiotics originally isolated from a pseudomarine fungus. Fifteen other compounds isolated from marine organisms, many of which were discovered with the assistance of the National Cancer Institute’s Natural Products Branch, are in clinical trials or earlier stages of drug development. One anti-inflammatory substance, a partially purified pseudopterosin extracted from the Caribbean sea whip, the soft coral Pseudopterogorgonia elisabethae, has been licensed for use in skin-care products.

Hydroxyapatite, from marine coral, has FDA approval to be implanted into fractures or voids of human bones to aid in regrowth and repair. Horseshoe crab blood provides the basis of the limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) test, which can test in less than an hour for endotoxin contamination in