Natural Products Branch (NPB)

Introduction

The primary responsibility of the Natural Products Branch (NPB) is the acquisition of crude natural product materials from terrestrial and marine environments for extraction and screening of extracts in the NCI 60 cancer cell line screen and other intramural and extramural screening programs. The NPB Natural Product Extract Repository and facilities for the NCI 60 cancer cell screening are located at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research. The responsibilities of the NPB include the selection and evaluation of the materials to be extracted and tested, the extraction and fractionation of active extracts, and the procurement of sufficient quantities of raw materials to produce adequate quantities of those active agents selected for preclinical and clinical evaluation.

The NPB is responsible for the NCI’s Open Repository Program, Active Repository Program, and Fractionated Natural Products Library.

The NPB is also establishing collaborative programs through the signing of a NATURAL PRODUCT COLLABORATION AGREEMENT or LETTER OF COLLECTION with qualified research organizations in source countries for the screening of natural product extracts.

The NPB oversees the operations of the Natural Products Support Group of Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc. at FNLCR, which conducts isolation and chemical identification of active components from various crude extracts that are active in cancer in vitro and in vivo screens, as well as scale up production of active compounds to support pre-clinical and early clinical evaluation.

Contact NPB

Natural Products Branch
Developmental Therapeutics Program
Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis
National Cancer Institute
Building 457, Room 27
P.O. Box B
Frederick, MD 21702
Tel: +1.301.624.1269
Email: NCINatProdRep@mail.nih.gov