Center Philosophy and Organization
A Multi-Disciplinary Team Approach
The Center has adopted a multidisciplinary strategy to achieve basic research and clinical research objectives. Participating faculty come from the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy and the Program for Collaborative Research in the Pharmaceutical Sciences (PCRPS) – hailing from the College of Pharmacy. The College of Medicine provides faculty from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology; and the Department of Math, Statistics, and Computer Science in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences provides faculty with biostatistics expertise to the clinical trials. The Center also collaborates on clinical trials with physicians from Northwestern University. Additionally, the Center has two industrial collaborators, Pharmavite of Mission Hills, California and Naturex located in Hackensack, New Jersey.
The Center evaluates botanicals and especially those with potential benefits for women’s health, focusing on plants that are reported to alleviate the symptoms of menopause and premenstrual syndrome. Women have experimented with herbal remedies for gynecological complaints for centuries, but few systematic investigations have been carried out in theUnited States. The Center’s studies are addressing the safety of botanicals and their efficacy in reducing the frequency and intensity of hot flashes and other somatic symptoms in menopausal women.
Botanical Center Research Philosophy
Prior to being studied in a clinical trial, botanicals must undergo intense scientific scrutiny using basic science methodology before being tested in humans. Center scientists employ scientific testing procedures using sophisticated techniques and costly machinery. This process may take several months to complete. First botanicals must undergo botanical verification, then they are evaluated chemically for the identification of specific compounds (Project 1 and Core B) which are further evaluated to determine their biological activity (Project 2). When botanicals can be characterized both chemically and biologically, then their metabolic pathways are further investigated (Project 3 and Core B). All of this is done in advance of testing in humans to assure that botanicals being tested are verified, standardized and show activity without toxicity.
Center Organization
Directed by Norman R. Farnsworth and co-directed by Richard B van Breemen with Project Leadership from Guido F. Pauli (Project 1) , Judy L. Bolton (Project 2), Richard van Breemen (Project 3), and Stacie Geller (Clinical Evaluation Team), center faculty and staff collaborated in their efforts at the inception of the Botanical Center to investigate the clinical safety and efficacy of 10 botanicals widely used in the U.S. for the symptomatic treatment of menopause, premenstrual syndrome and chronic urinary tract infections. Since 1999 the list has been expanded to include additional botanicals targeted for study. Studies address the mechanism of action, identification of active compounds, and characterization of metabolism, bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of active species contained in these botanicals. The Botanical Center’s research component consists of three projects, and one clinical evaluation team supported by an administrative core (Core A) and a technology utilization core (Core B) which supplies expertise in mass spectrometry.
Click here to see the UIC / NIH Center for Botanical Dietary Supplements Research Organizational Chart