Marion Gauthier, edited by Gauthier Delomez 06:04, June 08, 2022
In Nantes, researchers have been looking for years at molecules from the seabed, which would be able to treat us.
For World Ocean Day on Wednesday, Europe 1 went to meet these researchers who are "only in the Middle Ages of discovering what can be had in the ocean".
In the abyss there may be something to cure cancer.
At the Atlantic Center in Nantes, researchers have been studying for years a molecule derived from a bacterium from the seabed.
This is administered to mice suffering from bone cancer.
"We have shown that by treating the mice with our molecule, there were fewer lung metastases, so the survival of the mice was also increased", explains Sylvia Colliec-Jouault, from Ifremer, at the microphone of Europe 1, on the occasion of World Oceans Day this Wednesday.
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A molecule to correct cognitive deficits
The oceans feed us, and so they could also heal us.
"We are only in the Middle Ages of discovering what we can have in the ocean", exclaims Philippe Monbet, for whom there remains an infinity of research to carry out.
In the Mer Bretagne Atlantique cluster, where he is deputy director, a company dissects a sea sponge and analyzes another molecule.
It would make it possible to correct the cognitive deficits of people with trisomy 21, for example.
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"The ocean is undoubtedly the future of our medicine cabinet," he says.
"It is essential to preserve them because the oceans have this potential reservoir of molecules that can help us live better and heal diseases that we cannot cure today", explains Philippe Monbet.
France also plays an essential role: it has the second exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the world, the second greatest potential for discoveries under the surface of its territorial waters.