My research project deals with the isolation and characterization of the cytotoxic components of the marine sponge, Rhaphoxya sp. It involves bioassay guided fractionation where multiple separation methods coupled with Brine Shrimp, Artemia salina, Assay at each step, leading to the isolation of active compound(s).

Each of the separation / isolation techniques utilizes well-established analytical methodology including liquid-liquid partitioning (methanol, Dichloromethane, Hexane and Butan-2-ol.), Flash Column Chromatography and HPLC. After each step BSA, which is a simple and rapid cytotoxicity test for bioactive natural products, will be carried out and the activity will be expressed in terms of LD50 ¬ using the “Reed Muench” method (LD50 is the lethal dosage of a toxic substance is the dose required to kill half the members of a tested population.) once the active fractions are purified through HPLC it will be further subjected to LC-MS and other spectroscopic analysis (such as NMR, IR and UV) to determine its structure(s).