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The complex architecture and exquisite bioactivity of natural products has long inspired and invigorated synthetic chemists. The field has evolved to the point where arguably with the necessary resources and time the synthesis of any natural product is achievable. The wealth of natural product reserves still to be studied and the constant need for new therapeutic agents has motivated chemists to develop innovative methods such as iterative synthesis, diversity orientated synthesis and automation to accelerate and streamline natural product synthesis.
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Nature provides us with the most efficient strategy of all, producing infinite collections of diverse biopolymers such as peptides, DNA, oligosaccharides and natural products using an iterative assembly line approach. Inspired by this, the Healy lab is developing an automated assembly line synthesis of polyketides and non-ribosomal peptide natural products. We aim to combine strategies inspired by natural product biosynthesis with the tools and techniques developed for the automated synthesis of other biopolymers to tackle the complex task of automating natural product synthesis. Together with collaborators, the goal is to develop a streamlined end-to-end process from genome sequencing to structure prediction, synthesis, bioactivity screening and preclinical development.