Department of Pharmacy Practice

Clinical Pharmacognosy Laboratory

Introduction
Over the past decade herbal medicine (botanicals) has become a topic of increasing global importance, with both medical and economic implications. In developing countries, as much as 80% of the indigenous populations are dependent on traditional systems of medicine and medicinal plants as their primary source of healthcare. In the industrialized nations such as the United States, over 50% of consumers use botanicals as part of complementary and alternative therapies. Such widespread use of herbals medicines has lead to significant concerns about the quality, safety and efficacy of these products.

Mission
To scientifically assess the quality, safety and efficacy of botanical dietary supplements and traditional (herbal) medicines.

Facilities
The clinical pharmacognosy laboratory is located in the College of Pharmacy, 6th floor, Rooms 670 & 672 (1200 sq. ft.), and contains the necessary analytical, molecular biology and computer equipment needed to conduct research in pharmacognosy. The Clinical Pharmacognosy Laboratory (CPL) is directed by Dr. Gail Mahady. Dr. Mahady is an Assistant Professor with a joint appointment between the Department of Pharmacy Practice and the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy. She is a registered pharmacist, with a Ph.D. in natural products chemistry (pharmacognosy) and has broad expertise in natural products isolation, identification, bioassay and standardization of botanical extracts for animal and clinical trials. She has co-authored four books and published more than 100 abstracts, book chapters and journal articles. Her expertise is in the field of botanical dietary supplements, phytomedicine and medicinal plant research. Her current research interests are in the area of botanicals for women’s health and infectious disease. Much of her research focuses on the discovery and development of standardized botanical extracts for the treatment of menopause, premenstrual syndrome, Helicobacter pylori and Chlamydia infections. In addition to presentations about botanical dietary supplements in women’s health, she has been invited to speak about traditional medicines, the World Health Organization monographs, botanicals for the treatment of infectious disease, harmonization of herbal health claims and botanicals research in cancer. CPL is equipped to perform analytical investigations of plant-based medicines, bioassay guided analysis of extracts, in vitro and in vivo studies. The major focus of the laboratory is the study of botanicals for infectious disease, gastrointestinal disorders, including chemoprevention, and women’s health. In addition, the facility also has the capability to perform mechanistic biochemical studies using purified enzymes from plant cell cultures. For natural products chemistry the laboratory has a wide range of chromatography equipment for TLC, HPLC, lyophilization, vacuum and rotary evaporators. It is also equipped with protein and DNA electrophoresis systems, gel-imaging, UV-Vis spectrophotometer, refrigerated microcentrifuges. Animal facility
For animal work, the Biologic Resources Laboratory at UIC is comprised of 104,000 sq. ft. on three levels. This includes 43 animal rooms for rodents and lagomorphs, each in a suite configuration with its own air handling system. Space is available for projects on an "as needed basis."The laboratory also serves as a training ground for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, visiting scholars, and others in relevant areas of natural products chemistry, botanical dietary supplements research, traditional medicine and medical ethnobotany. The projects upon which the laboratory is founded are currently supported by grants from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and the World Health Organization, with the primary emphasis on infectious disease, women’s health and gastrointestinal disease.Ongoing Research Projects:

Novel natural agents for treatment/prevention of infectious disease (Funding: NCCAM/NIH)
The project is based on the identification and standardization of traditional herbal medicines for in vitro and in vivo activity against Helicobacter pylori and Chlamydia pneumonia. This project is partially funded by the NCCAM/NIH. The long-term objectives of this project are the discovery of plant-based antimicrobial drugs from medicinal and food plants for the prevention and treatment of Helicobacter pylori infections in humans. The proposal is based on the following hypothesis: many medicinal and food plants are used around the world for the treatment of gastritis, dyspepsia and peptic ulcers, and some plant species also have experimental antibacterial activity, therefore these plant species are candidates for novel antibacterial agents against H. pylori infections.

Center for Botanical Dietary Supplements Research on Women’s Health (Funding: NCCAM/NIH/ODS)
The Center is one of the five Botanical Centers funded by the NCCAM/NIH/ODS focusing its efforts on the investigation of the clinical safety and efficacy of 10 herbal supplements widely used in the U.S. for the symptomatic treatment of menopause, premenstrual syndrome and chronic urinary tract infections. Additional studies will address mechanisms of action, identification of the active chemical constituents, and characterization of metabolism, bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of the active constituents. The multidisciplinary research team at UIC includes internationally renowned experts in the fields of pharmacognosy, medicinal chemistry, pharmacy practice, obstetrics and gynecology, geriatrics, surgical oncology, and mathematics and statistics.