ABSTRACT
Those who have wondered about the validity of a crystal ball to forecast the future will know that accurate prediction is unlikely, if not impossible (the predicted computer doomsday of the year 2000 is a perfect example). Who would have thought, for example, that entire genomes could be deciphered today for a few hundred dollars when only 15 years ago this was a multi-milliondollar activity. Today, we enjoy a rapidly changing science that incorporates, literally overnight, the most recently developed techniques in separation science (ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography [UHPLC]), analytical methods (imaging mass spectrometry, molecular networking), genome mining, and synthetic biology. Given the rate of development of these new technologies, their broad-scale application in marine drug discovery is already here and will be the norm in the future. Given this, the future looks exciting, especially for those who choose to invest in the numerous diverse and interactive disciplines required for effective drug discovery lead renement and preclinical development.
