Research and Scholarly Activities

Research and scholarly activity undertaken to date and work in progress is summarised under three broad areas of interest: Phytomedicines and dietary supplements, Pre-Clinical In vitro Toxicity Testing and Antimicrobial agents

Pre-Clinical In vitro Toxicity Testing

Before any new medicine can be tested on human volunteers and patients it must undergo a number of pre-clinical tests, these tests also provide information about the mechanism of toxicity of the substances under investigation.

Currently we provide a range of systems for in vitro testing to ascertain cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and immunomodulatory potential of novel medicines. A typical example is the burgeoning collaborations on the cytotoxicity, anti-cancer potential and antifungal activities of Mexican and Chinese medicinal plants. The work involves the isolation, identification of saponins from endemic Yucatecan medicinal plants (Sanchez-Medina et al, 2001 & 2006). In conjunction with the Southern Cross University, Australia; Royal Botanical Garden, Kew and University of Greenwich, UK and the Centre for Scientific Research of Yucatan (CICY), in Mexico we are evaluating cytotoxicity together with mechanistic experiments (Getti et al, underway).

Another collaboration with King's College London involves the Scutellaria species, widely used to augment cancer therapy in China (Gao et al, in preparation). In vitro techniques are also being employed to assess the phytochemical and wound healing properties of several Nigerian plants provided by the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria, Ibadan, (Adetutu et al, in preparation).

UEL HOMESEARCH