lab azul

Microbial
Natural Products
Biotechnology 

The science of microbial molecules · In a collaborative laboratory · To advance natural product discovery

We are a research lab exploring Microbial Natural Products Biotechnology at FCF - USP

We investigate the chemistry of talented microbes, such as #cyanobacteria, as a source of natural products with potential use as pharmaceuticals. 

Our research includes aspects of #naturalproductschemistry #pharmacognosy #chemicalbiology #biotechnology #pharmacology and #microbiology.

Our Approach 

We combine #bioprospecting tools such as #metabolomics and #genomics aiming at the discovery of bioactive compounds from the Brazilian biodiversity 

Our Manifest

We mix diversity and collaboration as key ingredients to foster creativity and motivation

 We believe that empowered scientists ask better questions Good questions lead to surprising connections And those connections advance knowledge! #sciencerocks 

We strive to build a healthy lab environment where individualities are appreciated and knowledge is developed together. 

 We value the process of learning.

We believe in the power of science and education as the basis for progress.

ScienceinProgress ScienceforProgress 

Research field

Natural product-inspired compounds, represent more than 65% of current small-molecule drugs. 


From antibiotic-resistant infections to untreatable cancers, new drugs are a continuous demand.

For an efficient drug discovery process, it is key to screen the most relevant chemical space. Natural products have long been recognized as an important source of therapeutic agents. 

At the Lab Azul, we aim at enhancing drug discovery with biodiversity and technology.

Projects

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Bioprospecting cyanobacteria for natural products

Cyanobacteria are a taxonomically diverse phylum of microorganisms known to produce secondary metabolites with biotechnological potential. The chemistry of cyanobacteria from the Brazilian biodiversity remains largely underexplored, representing a promising source of unprecedented scaffolds. We are developing and screening a pre-fractionated library of cyanobacterial natural products for anticancer, antibiotic, and antiparasitic activities.

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Metabolomics and genomics applied to microbial natural products

Omics technologies combined with information solutions have opened new frontiers in natural products research. We apply metabolomics and genomics for sample prioritization, preliminary dereplication, compound identification, large-scale comparative analyses, etc.

Funding

We eat cake and do science!

Follow us on Instagram! @labazul.science