• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2002

An International Cooperative Biodiversity Group (ICBG) program based at the University of Illinois at Chicago initiated its activities in 1998, with the following specific objectives: (a) inventory and conservation of of plants of Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam and of medicinal plants of Laos; (b) drug discovery (and development) based on plants of Vietnam and Laos; and (c) economic development of communities participating in the ICBG project both in Vietnam and Laos. Member-institutions and an industrial partner of this ICBG are bound by a Memorandum of Agreement that recognizes property and intellectual property rights, prior informed consent for access to genetic resources and to indigenous knowledge, the sharing of benefits that may arise from the drug discovery effort, and the provision of short-term and long-term benefits to host country institutions and communities. The drug discovery effort is targeted to the search for agents for therapies against malaria (antimalarial assay of plant extracts, using Plasmodium falciparum clones), AIDS (anti-HIV-l activity using HOG.R5 reporter cell line (through transactivation of the green fluorescent protein/GFP gene), cancer (screening of plant extracts in 6 human tumor cell lines - KB, Col-2, LU-l, LNCaP, HUVEC, hTert-RPEl), tuberculosis (screening of extracts in the microplate Alamar Blue assay against Mycobacterium tuberculosis $H_{37}Ra\;and\;H_{37}Rv),$ all performed at UIC, and CNS-related diseases (with special focus on Alzheimer's disease, pain and rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma), peformed at Glaxo Smith Kline (UK). Source plants were selected based on two approaches: biodiversity-based (plants of Cuc Phuong National Park) and ethnobotany-based (medicinal plants of Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam and medicinal plants of Laos). At mc, as of July, 2001, active leads had been identified in the anti-HIV, anticancer, antimalarial, and anti- TB assay, after the screening of more than 800 extracts. At least 25 biologically active compounds have been isolated, 13 of which are new with anti-HIV activity, and 3 also new with antimalarial activity. At GSK of 21 plant samples with a history of use to treat CNS-related diseases tested to date, a number showed activity against one or more of the CNS assay targets used, but no new compounds have been isolated. The results of the drug discovery effort to date indicate that tropical plant diversity of Vietnam and Laos unquestionably harbors biologically active chemical entities, which, through further research, may eventually yield candidates for drug development. Although the substantial monetary benefit of the drug discovery process (royalties) is a long way off, the UIC ICBG program provides direct and real-term benefits to host country institutions and communities.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.89-103
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• 2013

National demands for the ocean forecasting system have been increased to support economic activity and national safety including search and rescue, maritime defense, fisheries, port management, leisure activities and marine transportation. Further, the ocean forecasting has been regarded as one of the key components to improve the weather and climate forecasting. Due to the national demands as well as improvement of the technology, the ocean forecasting systems have been established among advanced countries since late 1990. Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE) significantly contributed to the achievement and world-wide spreading of ocean forecasting systems. Four stages of GODAE were summarized. Goal, vision, development history and research on ocean forecasting system of the advanced countries such as USA, France, UK, Italy, Norway, Australia, Japan, China, who operationally use the systems, were examined and compared. Strategies of the successfully established ocean forecasting systems can be summarized as follows: First, concentration of the national ability is required to establish successful operational ocean forecasting system. Second, newly developed technologies were shared with other countries and they achieved mutual and cooperative development through the international program. Third, each participating organization has devoted to its own task according to its role. In Korean society, demands on the ocean forecasting system have been also extended. Present status on development of the ocean forecasting system and long-term plan of KMA (Korea Meteorological Administration), KHOA (Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Administration), NFRDI (National Fisheries Research & Development Institute), ADD (Agency for Defense Development) were surveyed. From the history of the pre-established systems in other countries, the cooperation among the relevant Korean organizations is essential to establish the accurate and successful ocean forecasting system, and they can form a consortium. Through the cooperation, we can (1) set up high-quality ocean forecasting models and systems, (2) efficiently invest and distribute financial resources without duplicate investment, (3) overcome lack of manpower for the development. At present stage, it is strongly requested to concentrate national resources on developing a large-scale operational Korea Ocean Forecasting System which can produce open boundary and initial conditions for local ocean and climate forecasting models. Once the system is established, each organization can modify the system for its own specialized purpose. In addition, we can contribute to the international ocean prediction community.