Caving for Cures
About this video
Mining for drugs.
In this short film from the American Museum of Natural History, Brian Bachmann, assistant professor of Chemistry at Vanderbilt University, combines his passion for caving with his research interests in natural drug production.
Many of the drugs produced by the pharmaceutical industry are derived from natural processes and microorganisms, and so the uncharted habitats of cave ecosystems offer a rich reservoir for possible drug discovery. With a single microorganism capable of producing thousands of different molecules, there’s a high chance that some of these may have disease fighting potential.
