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Field of interest :
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Isolation of biologically active molecules from natural sources (higher plants, microbes, marine plants and animals,) through biologically guided fractionation (viz. antidiabetic, antihyperlipidimic, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antiviral, antiprotozoal, etc…).
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Standardization and quality control of plants and herbal drugs.
Instruments in the Lab:
Balances, centrifuge, sonicator, centrifugal TLC (Chromatotron), medium pressure liquid chromatography (MPLC), Preparative HPLC, Vacuum oven, Lyophilizer, Rotatory evaportator, Refrigerator, freezer (-80oC), fraction collector.
Objectives:
Overview. For decades drug discovery was successfully fuelled from natural sources, such salicin from willow tree developed into aspirin®. A similar successful group of drugs, the statins, originating from Aspergillus terreus (Lovastatin) marks the outgoing 20th century. Analysis of drugs developed between 1981 and 2006 showed that natural products (NPs) or natural product-derived compounds comprised 28% of all new chemical entities (NCEs). In addition, 24% of these NCEs were related to NPs. Although of discontinuation of many programs of drug discovery from natural resources and focusing on high-throughput screening of predominantly combinatorial chemistry products throughout the last 10-15 years. The NP field was still contributing to about 50% of all small molecules in the years 2000-2006. This shows that NPs are important and effective sources for new drugs or leads.
The main objectives of Natural Products Lab are:
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To enhance the research focus on Drug Discovery from Nature, offering a stage for communication and interaction of researchers dealing with natural products.
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The establishment of units and high-level research facilities for staff members and other researchers.
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Training and development of scientific members in multidisciplinary areas related to the Natural Products.
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Establishment of strong communication to Saudi communities to understand the traditional Arab medicine and the use of cumulated information in traditional medicine to find new phytopharmaceutical products based on ethno pharmacological data.
Vision:
The department strives to be distinguished and excellent research center in the Arab area and worldwide in the field of natural products, health sciences and pharmaceutical biotechnology by:
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Offering high-quality research and education in the field of Drug discovery.
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Identification of a new area of evidence-based research on bioactive molecules from nature.
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Offering high quality services to Saudi and the international scientific communities with its knowledge, in the areas of herbal medicine and development of phytopharmaceutical products.
Mission:
The mission of Natural products research Lab is the discovery, development of natural product-derived pharmaceuticals and plant biotechnology to benefit human health. Our natural products research effort is a broad, multidisciplinary, integrated program with three major emphasis areas:
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The discovery and early development of potential new drugs and agrochemicals from natural sources.
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The understanding and science-based characterization of botanical products used as food or dietary supplements.
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Research on medicinal plants or other natural products, the production and processing of their pharmaceutical actives, and their potential for the development of alternative phytopharmaceutical drugs.
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