Medicinal Plants
Past
Natural products have been used by humanity since ancient times to treat diseases and for other health benefits. The oldest written evidence about the use of medicinal plants was found on a Sumerian clay slab describing twelve drug recipes using plants such as poppy, henbane and mandrake. The old Chinese book “Pen T’Sao” contains over 365 instructions to make drugs and many of the ingredients like Chinese ginseng, cinnamon bark and ephedra are still used today.
Present
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that plant-based medicines provide primary healthcare for approximately 3.5 to 4 billion people worldwide. Approximately 85% of traditional medicine involves the use of plant extracts and in recent times, about 80% of antimicrobial, cardiovascular, immunosuppressive and anti-cancer drugs originated from plants.
Future
Nature offers us a treasure of tens of thousands of plant species and the plant compounds show a great structural and chemical diversity. This creates great opportunities for modern drug design based on plant compounds which can serve as drug precursors, drug prototypes and pharmacological probes.
Our Research
Our Approach
At Medleaf Biotechnologies Inc we apply an integrative approach combining different scientific disciplines such as advanced chemical profiling, genetic fingerprinting and bioinformatics to study medicinal plants.
We use advanced tools such as UPLC, LC-MS/MS and GC-MS together with modern next-generation sequencing to understand the molecular composition of medicinal plants. In addition, we are also leading in the single-cell bioanalysis of naturally occurring biomarkers using different cancer cells.
Our aim is to develop nutraceuticals with proven health benefits and discover new drug candidates for modern drug development programs. Hundreds of medicinal plants have not been investigated using latest research techniques. It is our goal to change this and enter the era of next-generation medicine.
Our Latest Cannabis Research
Cannabis is widely used for medical, industrial and recreational purposes particularly for its illicit psychoactive properties. It has been reported to treat pain, glaucoma, nausea, asthma, depression, multiple sclerosis, cancer, epilepsy and inflammatory diseases. Chemically, the plant is very complex with over 400 compounds. More than 60 of them are cannabinoids like THC and CBD which are reported to have the most clinical effects. However, several other classes of compounds have also been reported including terpenes, alkaloids and flavonoids.
To utilize cannabis and cannabis-based products in science-based medicine it is vital to classify cannabis both chemically and genetically. Using advanced research tools like UPLC, LC-MS/MS and GC-MS we are able to identify and quantify major cannabinoids such as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), Cannabidiol (CBD), Cannabigerol (CBG), and Cannabinol (CBN) in different cannabis cultivars. We combine this with genomic DNA sequence analysis in order to understand the functionality of genes responsible for cannabinoid production. In addition, we are also using single-cell bioanalysis of to study the effects of cannabinoids and other cannabis compounds on cancer cells and other diseases.
Our Research Areas
Our main research areas are cancer, inflammation, epilepsy and anti-aging. Using our patented single-cell bioanalysis our main focus is assessing the effects of cannabinoids and other cannabis compounds on cancer cells like glioma and breast cancer. In addition, we also use our single-cell approach to study other diseases like epilepsy and inflammation. Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by recurrent seizures. Inflammation is a defense mechanism and a vital part of the body’s immune reaction. We are currently also expanding our research programs to different areas of human health such as the anti-aging effects of Cannabis and skin health.