Baker Chemistry

10/18/2025

New Publication! Full article:

In this study, three Antarctic sponges of the genus Latrunculia were investigated, leading to the isolation of five unreported pyrroloiminoquinone alkaloids along with the known metabolite (+)-debromodiscorhabdin A (3). Three of the new metabolites were brominated, while the other two were found to....

10/18/2025

New publication! Full Article:

Black corals have been poorly studied with respect to their secondary metabolite chemistry. With the aim of discovering new bioactive metabolites, we collected deep-sea black corals from the Irish continental margin. Our analysis of the black coral Phanopathes sp. yielded three new peptides (maigheo...

10/21/2023

Deep-sea mining threatens the world’s untapped and unknown underwater pharmacies.

10/21/2022

For anyone interested who still needs to complete their Candidacy Exams!

09/08/2022

The crew of the sampling trip to the Keys Marine Lab hard at work. Many thanks to all of the people at Keys Marine Laboratory who made our trip posible, as well as Sam Afoullouss and Ben Meister for taking these wonderful pictures.

08/25/2022

From giant sponges to bubblegum coral, Sam Afoullouss talks about his journey in the world of marine drug discovery. Listen to all about it here:

Plunge into the ocean off the west coast of Ireland...and then keep plunging, down to where there's no light and the temperature is just above freezing. That's where underwater chemist Sam Afoullouss sends a deep sea robot to carefully collect samples of marine organisms. The goal? To search for uni...

07/29/2022

That feeling after another successful ASP conference.

07/28/2022

We would like to congratulate our graduate student, Sarah Dietrick, who presented a poster at the 2022 American Society of Pharmacognosy (ASP) conference in Charleston, SC on the importance of antimicrobial activity of endophytic fungi against Candida spp.

06/07/2022

Slug Bunnies? How confusing could one animal be?

Read all about Doris ‘kerguelenensis’ and some of the new fascinating discoveries here:

Doris 'kerguelenensis' Credit: Bill J Baker A slug will often provoke a scrunched up nose and an “urgh” but this one elicits not only softs coos of “awww” but also a puzzled “huh?” “At a quick glance, they look like tiny bunnies,” says Dr

05/12/2022

We are featured on the Journal of Natural Products ASAP Page! Check out our new manuscript about Tuaimenal A, a soft coral monoterpene with anti-covid properties.

Journal of Natural Products has been certified as a transformative journal by cOAlition S, committing to a transition to 100% open access in the future. If your research funder has signed Plan S, your open access charges may be covered by your funder through December 31, 2024. Please visit the ACS O...

05/09/2022

New Publication out! Check it out here:

Gastropod assemblages associated with Himantothallus grandifolius, Sarcopeltis antarctica and other subtidal macroalgae

04/05/2022

Congratulations to our undergraduate researchers (Jenny W., Pratiksha S., and Jess B.) and graduate student (Sarah D.) for winning 2022 USF Department of Chemistry Awards!