"Biodiversity is the very source of new chemical diversity, and it is a treasure trove of potential new drug candidates that humanity has yet to discover."
Rohan Davis, a professor at Griffith University in Australia, emphasized this at the 2025 Korea-Australia natural products and biotechnology tech-bridge symposium held at St. John's Hotel in Gangneung on the 24th, noting that studying unknown compounds in nature is key to developing new medicines.
Professor Davis has been conducting research on developing new drugs from natural products for 22 years, centered in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. He said, "Countries with extremely high biodiversity, including Australia, account for less than 10% of the Earth's surface but more than 70% of global biodiversity," adding, "This diversity is a core source for developing new drugs."
Griffith University currently operates NatureBank, a natural product resource bank. It was launched in 1993 in collaboration with British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. It now holds about 30,000 biological samples collected from rainforests and marine ecosystems across Australia. Of these, about 10,000 were obtained from marine organisms. Extracts obtained from biological samples have been purified into a total of more than 600,000 natural compounds, and each sample is managed so that its location can be tracked by GPS.
Professor Davis said, "We extract and fractionate natural compounds from biological samples and share them with research institutions and pharmaceutical companies around the world to find candidate substances for new drugs," adding, "Through this, we are discovering various drug candidates, including new antibacterials and antiparasitics."
He introduced a case in which, in collaboration with the University of Queensland, a new antibacterial substance effective against Mycobacterium tuberculosis was discovered. The compound was found to be effective even against resistant strains not affected by existing antibiotics and is assessed to have a new mechanism of action. In another study, new compounds for parasitic infectious diseases were developed, and some have entered a stage of joint validation with global pharmaceutical companies.
Professor Davis said, "Drug resistance, where existing medicines do not work, is a major threat to human health," adding, "The infinite chemical diversity found in nature can be the answer."
Professor Davis is not stopping at simply discovering natural compounds; he is also conducting research to modify structures to enhance biological activity or impart entirely different functions. He said, "We are increasing the value of natural products by modifying compound structures and improving metabolic stability," adding, "I look forward to close collaboration with Korean researchers in developing new drugs from natural products and industrializing materials."
Meanwhile, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) and Griffith University signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that day. Earlier, KIST had been selected as the lead institution for the Korea-Australia Tech Bridge project, supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) to promote bilateral cooperation. Through this agreement, the two institutions plan to expand cooperation in various fields, including new drug development based on natural products and the joint use of biological materials.