Busselton Jetty’s Golf Day Fundraiser

Busselton Jetty Environment Foundation was established to ensure the future of our marine and coastal environments. The Busselton Jetty Environment Foundation is dedicated to education, conservation, and research. Busselton Jetty is home to a thriving and complex ecosystem of temperate and subtropical marine life. Many species are endemic to the South West, and found nowhere else in the world.

Busselton Jetty’s inaugural Golf Day aims to raise funds for the development and support of marine pharmacology trials at Busselton Jetty.

Postdoctoral Researcher Darren Holland, UWA Associate Professor Dr Gavin Flematti, Associate Professor Dr Heng Chooi and Busselton Jetty CEO Lisa Shreeve recently met to discuss marine pharmacology trials of sponges under the Busselton Jetty that may contain the anti-cancer compounds to one day cure various forms of cancer.

Darren completed his PhD on bioactive marine sponges at Griffith University in Queensland and a postdoctoral fellowship at the prestigious Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, USA. This new project aims to collect preliminary data on Busselton Jetty sponges to test for biological activity by generating extracts and fractionations for anti-cancer testing. Promising results have already been found in WA sponges like the Phorbas genus, which lives under the Jetty on the pylons.