For years scientists have tried to exploit marine sponges for pharmaceuticals, identifying a dozen types from 10,000 marine sponge classifications that contain anti-malarial, anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory compounds.
But traces of promising compounds have been insufficient to run large-scale clinical trials. Researcher Ilan said his team is trying to develop cultures to create lab compounds of potential antibiotics.
The UN World Health Organization has stated that science was able to stay ahead of microbes through antibiotic discoveries up to the 1970s, but that recent resistant strains demand new antimicrobials.
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