Distinguished International Projects
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France
Resistance to antimicrobials is a significant and growing problem, with limiting treatment options especially for serious Gram-positive infections. Among them, methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is the major cause of worldwide outbreaks for both hospitals and the community . Radix Sophorae Flavescentis (苦參) is an important herbal medicine, which has been traditionally employed as an antipyretic, analgesic, and has been shown to exert antibacterial effect. A non-cytotoxic and anti-inflammatorycompound, kuraridin was isolated from Radix Sophorae Flavescentis by bioassay guided fractionation, with potent inhibitory effects against MRSA. Kuraridin could also enhance the antibacterial activities of gentamicin, fusidic acid and vancomycin against MRSA.
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, USA
Research Center for Botanical Immunomodulators
The MSKCC Center for the Study of Botanical Modulators was funded in Spring, 2005. ICM served as the Botanical Resource Core of the center, was responsible for authentication and standardization of botanicals as well as fractionation botanical extracts to characterize active constitutes. Five core botanicals (Astragalus, Echinacea, Turmeric, Maitake extract and Shi Quan Da Bu Tang, a complex herbal mixture) were selected for core studies.
ICM produced several international refereed journals and book articles under the support of this collaboration. The results of studies have also been presented in different international conferences.
Lehman College, City University of New York, USA
Research collaboration with Prof. Edward Kennelly of Lehman College, CUNY, was established on three major research areas, namely i) chemical analysis of medicinal herbs; ii) bioavailability of active components of medicinal herbs and iii) metabolomics studies of herbal medicines.
Kobe University, Japan
The MSKCC Center for the Study of Botanical Modulators was funded in Spring, 2005. ICM served as the Botanical Resource Core of the center, was responsible for authentication and standardization of botanicals as well as fractionation botanical extracts to characterize active constitutes. Five core botanicals (Astragalus, Echinacea, Turmeric, Maitake extract and Shi Quan Da Bu Tang, a complex herbal mixture) were selected for core studies.
ICM produced several international refereed journals and book articles under the support of this collaboration. The results of studies have also been presented in different international conferences.