FUNDACION CENTRO DE EXCELENCIA EN INVESTIGACION DE MEDICAMENTOS INNOVADORES EN ANDALUCIA

Their core work

FUNDACION MEDINA is a Spanish research centre specializing in natural product drug discovery, with deep expertise in screening bioactive compounds from marine and microbial sources. They operate chemical biology and small molecule screening infrastructure, supporting the pipeline from biodiscovery through medicinal chemistry optimization. Their work spans pharmaceutical ingredient development from actinomycetes and marine organisms, as well as agricultural bioprotectant discovery from environmental microbiomes.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their early H2020 work (2015–2017) centred on capacity building and market-oriented research in the blue-growth space — projects like BLUEandGREEN focused on innovation mentoring and brokerage rather than deep technical work. From 2017 onward, they shifted decisively toward hands-on technical research: actinomycete systems biology (TOPCAPI), chemical biology infrastructure (EU-OPENSCREEN-DRIVE), and marine microbiome bioprotection (MARBLES). The trend is clear — from broad science-industry bridging toward specialized natural product chemistry and applied microbiology.

MEDINA is moving from general marine bioresource networking toward applied microbial natural product discovery, with increasing emphasis on agricultural applications alongside their pharmaceutical core.

How they like to work

MEDINA operates exclusively as a consortium partner — they have not coordinated any H2020 projects but contribute specialized screening and chemistry capabilities to larger teams. With 62 unique partners across 23 countries, they maintain a broad European network rather than relying on a small circle of repeat collaborators. This pattern suggests they are valued as a specialist contributor that different consortia recruit for their compound screening infrastructure and natural product expertise.

Extensive pan-European network spanning 62 partners in 23 countries, indicating they are widely recognized and actively sought out as a collaboration partner in the marine biodiscovery and chemical biology communities.

What sets them apart

MEDINA sits at the intersection of marine biodiscovery and pharmaceutical-grade compound screening — a combination that is rare among Southern European research centres. Their compound library and screening infrastructure make them a practical partner for any consortium that needs to go from environmental samples to validated bioactive molecules. Their recent expansion into agricultural bioprotection (MARBLES) opens a second application pathway for the same core capabilities, making them unusually versatile for a specialized screening facility.

Highlights from their portfolio

• MARBLES
  Their largest project (EUR 685K), representing a strategic pivot from pharmaceuticals into agricultural bioprotection using marine-derived microbes.
• TOPCAPI
  Their most technically deep project — actinomycete chassis engineering and biosynthetic pathway optimization for advanced pharmaceutical ingredients.
• EU-OPENSCREEN-DRIVE
  Positions MEDINA within European research infrastructure for chemical biology, ensuring long-term access to screening networks and compound libraries.