How Nature Bank and the Queensland Compound Library are driving a renaissance in natural drug discovery
Explore the DiscoveryIn the quest for new medicines, researchers are increasingly turning back to the oldest pharmacy on Earth: nature. For decades, drugs derived from natural products have been used to treat cancer, combat parasites, and fight infections. However, discovering the next life-saving compound is like finding a needle in a haystack. It requires screening thousands of natural samples to find a single molecule with the right therapeutic activity.
At the forefront of this modern-day treasure hunt are two unique international resources: Nature Bank and the Queensland Compound Library (QCL). Housed within Griffith University's Eskitis Institute for Drug Discovery in Australia, these facilities work in tandem to harness the power of natural chemistry, creating an environment that is driving a renaissance in natural drug discovery and giving scientists around the world the tools they need to tackle the world's most devastating diseases 1 4 .
Imagine a vast library, but instead of books, its shelves are filled with thousands of plants, marine invertebrates, and fungi collected from Australia and the broader region. This is Nature Bank, a comprehensive and unique drug discovery platform 1 7 .
More than just a collection, Nature Bank processes these natural materials into ready-to-use samples for high-tech screening. The library contains over 45,000 samples of biota (plants and marine organisms), which are then processed into more than 200,000 semi-purified fractions and 3,250 pure compounds 4 7 .
If Nature Bank provides the blueprint, then the Queensland Compound Library (QCL) is the high-throughput engine that tests them. Now operating under the name Compounds Australia, this facility is Australia's national compound management and logistics hub 2 9 .
It acts as a "library" of chemical compounds, but you won't find any dusty books here. Instead, it houses over 1.5 million samples of chemical and organic compounds stored in tiny tubes and microplates within automated, state-of-the-art storage systems 2 .
The true power of these resources is unlocked when they work together. Nature Bank's unique natural fractions can be fed directly into the QCL's high-throughput screening pipelines. This unique interaction sets the Eskitis Institute apart, creating an environment that encourages global collaboration and accelerates the journey from a natural sample to a potential drug lead 4 .
| Resource | Nature Bank | Compounds Australia (QCL) |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Collection | >45,000 biota samples | 1.5 million compounds |
| Processed Materials | 200,000+ fractions | 15,000 microplates |
| Pure Compounds | 3,250 isolated molecules | 330,000 in ADDL |
| Annual Output | New natural fractions | 4+ million samples delivered |
To understand how this powerful partnership works in practice, let's examine a specific research project that led to the discovery of novel antimalarial compounds.
The process began with the collection of the Australian marine sponge Plakortis lita from the waters off Queensland, Australia. This sponge was then archived within Nature Bank's extensive collection of over 30,000 biota samples.
Researchers at Nature Bank used a proprietary technique called Lead-Like Extraction to process the sponge sample. This method converts a crude natural extract into a prefractionated library, separating it into dozens of distinct, semi-purified fractions.
The entire Nature Bank fraction library, which contained the Plakortis lita fractions, was then screened using an in-vitro antimalarial assay. This screening was enabled by the robust compound management and plating capabilities of the QCL (Compounds Australia).
The screening campaign successfully identified several active fractions derived from the Plakortis lita sponge that showed significant activity against the malaria parasite.
Following the "hit" identification, chemists performed subsequent chemical investigations on the active fractions. Using techniques like chromatography and mass spectrometry, they isolated the specific molecules responsible for the antimalarial activity.
The chemical investigation resulted in the discovery of four novel antimalarial compounds, which were named thiaplakortones A-D 7 . These natural products had never been described before. Crucially, two of these compounds displayed nanomolar activity against drug-resistant malaria parasites, meaning they were effective at very low concentrations 7 .
Novel compounds with nanomolar activity against drug-resistant malaria strains.
Highly PotentNovel chemical structures with confirmed antimalarial activity.
Promising LeadsAdvanced instruments that use sound energy to transfer nanolitre volumes of liquids with extreme accuracy 9 .
Nature Bank's proprietary method for processing raw natural extracts into semi-purified fractions 7 .
Microplates pre-formatted with specific compounds or fractions, ready for researchers to add their biological assay 2 .
Resources that connect scientists worldwide, enabling shared discovery and accelerated research 4 .
The partnership between Nature Bank and the Queensland Compound Library represents a powerful and modern approach to drug discovery. By combining the immense chemical diversity of nature with the efficiency of high-throughput robotic screening, they de-risk the drug discovery process and enhance the likelihood of success 2 .
This work has major implications for world health, particularly in the treatment of cancers, infectious diseases like malaria, and neurodegenerative conditions.
These resources are driving a renaissance in natural products research, ensuring the search for medicines continues to be informed by nature's complexity.
"Ultimately, these unique international resources set the stage for a renaissance in natural products research, ensuring that the search for the next life-saving medicine continues to be informed by the profound complexity and ingenuity of the natural world."