The extremely limited availability of ciguatoxin and related toxins has been the major obstacle in ciguatera research. To overcome the difficulty, we explored both biological and chemical ways of obtaining the toxins. One strain of Gambierdiscus toxicus produced a ciguatoxin analog in laboratory cultures, promising a future supply of the toxins by culturing. The absolute stereochemistry of a ciguatoxin analog, GT4b, was determined and thus laid the basis for synthetic studies. Prospects of developing sensitive assay methods for the toxins are briefly discussed.