Expertise: Microorganisms from unexplored environments; secondary metabolites produced by marine microbes; bacterial chemical communication; and antibiotic drug discovery One of the more frightening medical trends today is our growing resistance to antibiotics, which we take for everything from ear infections to life-threatening blood conditions. As people use antibiotics for more and more ailments, the ability of germs and bacteria to mutate and adapt has increased, often making them stronger than the medicines available to treat them. Pharmacognosy is the study of the medicinal properties of compounds from such natural sources as the ocean and plants. Most of our current antibiotic drugs derive from natural products produced by terrestrial microorganisms, so as we try to stay one step ahead of the pathogens, the most logical next place to look is at marine microbes. [Continued…]
Choi H, Mascuch SJ, Villa FA, Byrum T, Teasdale ME, Smith JE, Preskitt LB, Rowley DC, Gerwick L, Gerwick WH. (2012) Honaucins A?C, Potent inhibitors of eukaryotic inflammation and bacterial quorum sensing: Synthetic derivatives and structure-activity relationships, Chemistry & Biology, 19(5):589-98. Sarkisian SA, Janssen MJ, Matta H, Henry GE, Laplante KL, Rowley DC (2012) Inhibition of bacterial growth and biofilm production by constituents from Hypericum spp. Phytotherapy Research 26(7):1012-6. doi: 10.1002/ptr.3675. Teasdale M, Donovan KA, Forschner-Dancause SR, Rowley DC (2010) Gram-positive marine bacteria as a potential resource for the discovery of quorum sensing inhibitors. Marine Biotechnology, DOI: 10.1007/s10126-010-9334-7. Teasdale M, Liu J, Wallace J, Rowley DC (2009) Secondary metabolites produced by a marine Halobacillus salinus that inhibit quorum sensing controlled phenotypes in Gram-negative bacteria. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 75(3): 567-572. Socha AM, LaPlante KL, Russell DJ, Rowley DC (2009) Structure-activity studies of echinomycin antibiotics against drug-resistant and biofilm-forming Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 19: 1504-1507. Forschner S, Sheffer R, Rowley DC, Smith D (2009) Microbial diversity of deeply buried Arctic prokaryotic communities. Environmental Microbiology, 11(3): 630-639. Socha AM, Long RA, Rowley DC (2007) New bacillamides from a hypersaline microbial mat bacterium. Journal of Natural Products, 70:1793-1795. Socha AM, LaPLante KL, Rowley DC. (2006) New bisanthraquinone antibiotics and semi-synthetic derivatives with potent activity against clinical Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecium isolates. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, 14(24):8446-54. Overview
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Professor Rowley and team say class of cranberry carbohydrates could improve UTI treatment - Biomedical Science Professor David Rowley and his team in the College of Pharmacy have found that a class of complex carbohydrates could enhance treatment of urinary tract infections. Their findings appear in a recent issue of the Journal of Functional Foods, published by the International Society for Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods. 
$18.8 Million for URI-Based Initiative - The Rhode Island IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (RI-INBRE), the URI-based initiative that has greatly expanded biomedical research statewide, has been awarded an additional $18.8 million for the program’s continued expansion over the next five years. Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology Zahir Shaikh has been the principal investigator and program director since the project's inception in 2001.
Discover New Cures. - Discover New Cures. The world’s got a lot of illness and disease that needs curing, and at URI, leading scientists are breaking new ground toward the discoveries we’ve all been waiting for. Inside our Natural Products Lab, Pharmacognosy Professor David Rowley – one of the only a handful of marine microbial chemists in the world […]
Big Thinkers: David Rowley - Title: Associate Professor, Biomedical Sciences Expertise: Microorganisms from unexplored environments; secondary metabolites produced by marine microbes; bacterial chemical communication; and antibiotic drug discovery One of the more frightening medical trends today is our growing resistance to antibiotics, which we take for everything from ear infections to life-threatening blood conditions. As people use antibiotics for more […]
Discover the Healing Power of the Sea - In science, amazing discoveries can begin in familiar places—in the ocean, in the plants around us, just about anywhere in the natural world. And at URI, that’s exactly where a group of scientists and their students are looking for newer and more effective medicines to treat infection and a variety of human diseases.Pharmacognosy Professor David […]
URI’s College of Pharmacy bolsters natural products chemistry work - Discovering drugs from natural sources part of College’s 50-year history KINGSTON, R.I. – February 25, 2008 – After it opened its doors in 1957, the University of Rhode Island’s College of Pharmacy quickly became known for its medicinal plant research. Fifty years later, the College is strengthening its work in pharmacognosy, a branch of pharmacy […]
URI to host conference, birthday bash in honor of ‘drugs from the sea’ pioneer - Kingston resident Yuzuru Shimizu to be feted KINGSTON, R.I. — July 6, 2005 — How do you celebrate the 70th birthday of a University of Rhode Island professor who is renowned for his research on obtaining drugs from the sea? You simply invite his colleagues, friends and former students from around the world to a […]Research
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David Rowley, Ph.D.
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