Taiwan experts developing unique drug from Antarctic specimens

 2012/06/04 20:54:17Taipei, June 4 (CNA) A member of the first Taiwanese team to conduct research in Antarctica said Monday that new medicine can hopefully be developed from an anti-inflammatory substance found in some of the specimens the group brought back.The compound was found in sponges and sea urchins, which were among the 600-plus specimens collected over the last three years by an expedition team formed by the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium and local universities.Research on the anti-inflammatory compound has reached the animal testing phase and the researchers plan to submit the results to international journals, said Sung Ping-jyun, director of the Institute of Biotechnology at National Dong Hwa University, one of the participating schools.Researchers are analyzing the structure of the substance and a potential new drug may take as long as 10 years to manufacture, said Wen Zhi-hong, deputy director of the Operation Center of Industry and University Cooperation at National Chung Shan University, who added the research project was in its first year.While in Antarctica, the group worked with researchers from China in specimen collection of 49 species, according to the museum.Moreover, the team also discovered some penguin tissue samples contained dioxin, a toxic chemical compound, which could have entered the birds' systems directly through pollution or indirectly through the food chain, Sung said.