Each specimen in the reef is screened for bioactive secondary metabolites — chemical compounds many marine organisms produce for defence or competition, some of which turn out to be useful drug leads (Ara-C, an anticancer/antiviral drug, was first isolated from a Caribbean sponge; trabectedin, an anticancer agent, from a sea squirt).
Screening one specimen is cheap; finding an active one is not. Real bioprospecting campaigns typically see only a small single-digit percentage of extracts show meaningful bioactivity, so this simulator keeps the hit rate deliberately low. A hit still has to clear extraction and a bioassay before it counts as a lead compound.
- Filter buttons — narrow the clickable set to one organism type at a time.
- Click a specimen — runs a chemical screen and, on a hit, advances it through the pipeline automatically.
- Ring colour — teal pulse = screening in progress, green ring = active compound found, grey ring = no significant activity.