Informations et ressources scientifiques
sur le développement des zones arides et semi-arides

Titre : Exploration of East African Herbal Resources to Control Major Health Challenges

Pays/Région : Afrique de l’Est

Date : 1 January 2017–31 December 2019

Identifiant : 2016-05857_VR

Présentation
This study will make use of East African indigenous knowledge for the application of natural resources to control the major health and societal challenges malaria, tuberculosis and bacterial infections.Following an ethnomedical survey, traditional medicines and medicinal plants will be collected in Kenya and Tanzania.

Their constituents will be isolated, and identified by NMR and MS analyses. The bioactivity of the extracts and the isolated constituents will be determined using cell-based assays. Standardized preparation techniques ensuring enrichment of the antiplasmodial, antitubercular or antibiotic and removal of the toxic ingredients will be established, along with the development of a methodology for rapid automated analysis of complex herbal extracts. These will be transferred to East Africa. The biochemical pathways targeted by the most promising bioactive substances will be identified by chemical genomics. Advanced NMR methods will be used to identify the binding mode of the substances to their protein targets to support their development into drugs.Besides achieving high scientific goals, the project aims the multidisciplinary training of African MSc and PhD students, and the establishment of a validation center for ethnomedicines at two African universities. It will support domestication of medicinal plants, facilitate the economic development of East Africa by strategic knowledge transfer and by supporting the local cottage industry, and increase patient safety.

Coordination : Uppsala University

Financement : Swedish Research Council
Budget : 3,000,000 kr

Swecris project database