InWha Park is a Graduate from the Department of Herbal Resources at Joongbu University, South Korea and has completed her Master’s Degree from the College of Pharmacy at Chungnam National University, South Korea. She has studied in the Pharmacognosy Laboratory at the College of Pharmacy, Chungnam National University. Her research interest is in the isolation and structure determination of secondary metabolites from natural products that include insects and marine organisms.

Recently, researches for novel food and medicinal materials have focused on insect resources. Grasshoppers (Oxya chinensis sinuosa Mistshenko) have been utilized as an edible insect in Asia and have been used to treat cough, asthma, bronchitis, paralysis and seizures. The aim of this study was to identify previously unreported bioactive anti-platelet compounds from this insects. Chemical investigation of the O. chinensis sinuosa led to the isolation of two new and known N-acetyldopamine dimers. The structures of compounds including absolute configurations were determined by 1D and 2D NMR, High-resolution electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (HRESIMS) and Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopic data analysis. All isolated compounds were evaluated for their anticoagulant activity by monitoring clotting and bleeding time, the activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) and Prothrombin time (PT). Compounds were shown to have platelet aggregation inhibitory activities. Collectively, these results show that compounds could serve as candidates and provide scaffolds for the development of new anti-platelet drugs.

DaYoung Kim is a Graduate from the Department of Chemistry at Mokwon University, South Korea. She works at the Pharmacognosy Laboratory of the Colloge of Pharmacy, Chungnam National University, South Korea. She has recently published a paper in Korean Journal of Aesthetics and Cosmetology

The plant M. charantia L., called “bitter melon” is widely cultivated in Asian countries. It is commonly used as a vegetable and medicine. The extract of the fruit of this plant was shown to posses anti-helmintic, antibacterial, antifertility, antidiabetic, as well as antiproliferative activities. The aim of this study was to identify the unreported six new cucurbitane-type triterpenoids from the fruits of M. charantia, utilizing diverse chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques. In particular, the 2D structure of 1 was confirmed utilizing the long-range HSQMBC NMR pulse, capable of measuring heteronuclear longrange correlations (4-6JCH). The cucurbitanes were also assessed for their inhibitory activity against Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-induced Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) proliferation. In particular, 2 and 4 at 10 μM curbed the VSMC proliferation by 72.4% and 67.9%, respectively, demonstrating significant inhibitory activity among the tested phytochemicals. This study may constitute a basis for developing those chemotypes into sensible pharmacophores alleviating cardiovascular disorders.

Ines Mancini has completed her MD in Chemistry at the University of Bologna ( Italy) in 1983 and she is currently Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Trento (Italy). Her research is focused on Natural Products Chemistry, involving isolation, structural elucidation, total synthesis also by unconventional eco-friendly methods and studies of target interactions by docking calculation. She has published 120 papers in peer-reviewed journals

The LC-ESIMS/MS analysis of methanol extracts of Latrunculia spp. sponges collected near the Antarctic Peninsula provided different metabolite profiles, all characterized by the presence of brominated pyrroloiminoquinone alkaloids discorhabdins. Some pure discorhabdin members have been demonstrated for the first time to be reversible competitive inhibitors of cholinesterases. They were tested as inhibitors of electric eel and recombinant human acetylcholinesterases, and of horse serum butyrylcholinesterase. The tested disorhabdins acted as reversible, competitive inhibitors through their binding to the active site of the free Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) or Butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), with very good Ki values when compared to the current cholinesterase inhibitors used for treatment of patients with Alzheimer's disease. A qualitative structure-activity relationship was carried out; moreover, a good correlation was observed between IC50 data and the results by molecular docking calculation on the binding interactions within the acetylcholinesterase active site. Electrophysiological experiments with one of the most active of these metabolites, discorhabdin G, showed that it has no undesirable effects on neuromuscular transmission and skeletal muscle function, which are instead the side effects produced by known drugs used as cholinesterase inhibitors. Based on the scaffold of discorhabdin metabolites, these findings are promising as a guide towards the synthesis of potential agents for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. A computational screening based on docking calculation of potential simplified structures inspired by natural discorhabdins is in progress, in order to select the best molecules to be synthesized and then biologically evaluated

Hala H Zaatout is an Egyptian PhD holder. She has completed her PhD from Alexandria University. She has published 6 papers in peer reviewed journals. She participated in several international conferences with various scientific posters.

Diabetes mellitus is chronic metabolic disorder. These metabolic disorders result from a deficiency of insulin or from insulin resistance. The hypoglycemic activity of glimepiride (Amaryl) relied on its ability to enhance insulin release and action. Fenugreek seeds (Trigonella foenum graecum) are known to have hypoglycemic activity. The aim of this study is to evaluate the possible interaction between amaryl and fenugreek aqueous extract on Streptozotocin induced diabetes in male albino rats. Male Albino rats were randomly divided into five groups; Group 1: (control group), Group 2: (diabetic group), Group 3: (diabetic treated with amaryl only), Group 4: (diabetic treated with aqueous extract of fenugreek) and Group 5: (diabetic treated with both aqueous extract of fenugreek and amaryl). Medications were administered orally for 8 weeks. The weight and the random blood sugar levels of the rats were measured during the experimental and at the end of the experimental, then rats were sacrificed for investigation of histological studies for kidney, pancreas and testes, hematological and biochemical assessments.The results showed a significant increase in body weight of group 5. It provided a significant protection to the altered hematological variables, decrease of the random blood sugar levels (near normal), and elevation of the insulin concentration. The levels of the total protein and albumin in group 5 were near to the control group values. In addition, it also showed significant decrease in serum total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL and ratio cholesterol/HDL levels. It also showed decrease in urea, creatinine and uric acid levels, improving the ALT, AST and ALK. The finding of this study indicates significant decrease in the concentration of Malondialdehyde (MDA) and Myeloperoxidase (MPO) in pancreas homogenates of group 5. These results reveal that combination of both aqueous extract of fenugreek and glimepiride gives better results than each drug alone.

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Herbs have been used in medicines and gastronomy throughout the mankind history. So far, a large number of herbal species have been credited for providing wholesome effects such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective and so on. Herbs are commonly consumed as infusions or decoction either individually or in blends. According to literature infusions of blended herbs where multiple active components are combined, show synergistic or additive effect of the substances. Synergy is defined as the interaction of two or more agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their individual effects. In this study infusions of herbal blends - three combinations from seven plants; camomile, lavender, linden, sage, wormwood, yarrow and valerian were examined for the synergistic activity of volatile and water soluble compounds. Infusions were prepared by stepping 1g of dried ground plant material to a teabag in 100ml of boiled water for 10 min. Extraction with diethyl ether followed to receive the volatile compounds. Total phenolic content and antioxidant activity were determined by Folin-Ciocalteu and DPPH assay, respectively. Toxicity assessment was estimated based upon the 81.9% protocol, expressed as EC50 value. The processes above were performed for infusion and the aquatic phase after the extraction. These methods were conducted for infusions of herbal blends and of individual herb. The synergistic activity of volatile and water soluble substances were evaluated by the formula of synergistic ratio (SR) and thus, defines the possible interaction between blend infusion and the interaction presented in the infusions of plants individually.

Bryan Chu Chwen Lim completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Biochemistry at the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). To further enhance his interest in science, he managed to receive a scholarship for his studies as a graduate student at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) in Canada, working on medicinal mushrooms with anti-cancer properties. With less than a year in his studies, he received Co-Authorship in one of the recently published research articles which studied the growth-inhibitory activity of a BC wild mushroom on cancer cell lines.

Mushrooms have been used since ancient times to treat various diseases including cancer, and the interest to use mushrooms for therapeutic purposes have risen in recent years due to their reported high biological activity and lowtoxicity. Despite a long history of mushrooms being used as traditional medicine in Asia, this medicinal field is relatively new in the West. In Canada, there is very limited number of studies performed on the medicinal properties of wild mushrooms. In this study, wild mushrooms collected from across north-central British Columbia (BC) were studied for their immuno-stimulatory activity and their ability to interfere with a specific protein-RNA interaction, namely the IMP1-KRAS mRNA interaction. Such molecular interaction has been shown to be critical for the oncogenic role of IMP1. Mushrooms collected were subjected to sequential extraction with 80% ethanol, 50% methanol, water, followed by 5% sodium hydroxide. All four crude extracts of three mushroom species were screened for their ability to stimulate murine macrophage (RAW 264.7) cells, with only the water extract of Pleurotus ostreatus showing significant immuno-stimulatory activity. In addition to that, crude extracts of six mushrooms were screened for their ability to disrupt the IMP1-KRAS mRNA interaction using an established Fluorescence Polarization (FP) method. Results of the screening of BC wild mushrooms for the two bioactivities will be presented and discussed.

Calleros F R obtained his Bachelor´s Degree in 2015 and is a Chemist. He is currently pursuing his Master's Degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the UAM in Mexico City. He has worked for the Mexican Academy of Sciences, has attended multiple conferences and seminars, has collaborated with the Faculty of Chemistry at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, working on synthesis of hormones with therapeutic activity.

Cancer is itself a chronic degenerative disease, which has a greater incidence in adults than in younger people. It is the growth and uncontrolled spread of abnormal cells. The current therapy against cancer, causes severe effects and reactions in patients; however, treatments with new molecules could reduce these effects. Plants are an important source of molecules that can function as antitumor agents and help fight cancer.The purpose of this work is to propose a therapeutic alternative to the existing compounds for the cancer tratment looking forward to reduce the side effects. Therefore, in the present work, the cytotoxic effect of the chloroformic extracts of Cuphea aequipetala and Verbena carolina, on Hela, C6, and DU-145 cell lines was studied, the separation of the active extracts was carried out, and the responsible fraction of biological activity was determined. The phytochemical test showed that the plants possess compounds that could reach pharmacological activity such as alkaloids, phenols, and terpenes among others, confirming the previous studies that these plants have. Inhibition of growth cell was observed with the chloroformic extract of V. carolina at concentrations of 6.25 μg/ml on Hela, inhibition of 46.13±1.15% on the DU-145 66.25±0.26% and on the C6 line of 13.17±0.47; while for the chloroform extract of C. aequipetala, was observed a percentage of inhibition at concentration

Jimenez P E completed his Degree in Pharmacy in 2014 and is pursuing a Master's Degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences. He has participated in various congresses and seminars. His branch of studies focuses on Inflammation and Pain.

Inflammation is a defense reaction of the organism against different exogenous and endogenous stimuli. Sometimes, it goes to a chronic situation that leads to chronic-degenerative diseases such as arthritis, arteriosclerosis or cancer. The pharmacological treatment of current inflammation can cause various adverse effects, such as constipation, sedation, respiratory depression and reduce the protective barrier of mucus in the stomach among others. Therefore, natural products represent resources in the search for new molecules with anti-inflammatory activity that have less adverse effects or, if possible, none. C. americana has been used in traditional medicine to treat liver disorders and as anti-inflammatory. The objective of this study was to examine the anti-inflammatory activity of the chloroformic and methanolic extracts of C. americana in the model of ear edema induced with croton oil in mice. The results obtained in this study seem to validate its use in traditional medicine as an anti-inflammatory agent, the chloroformic extract of C. americana showed a percentage of edema inhibition of 71.49±6.23. Meanwhile the methanolic extract showed an inhibition of 28.82±18.29% and the methanolic extract showed no significant anti-inflammatory activity compared to the group treated with indomethacin. The phytochemical study showed positive results for alkaloids and flavonoids.

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In the frame of TASCMAR more than 180 existing collection of invertebrates (MACLIB library) and 179 targeted marine invertebrates species (TARMAC library) were collected from the under-investigated mesophotic zone (between 30 and 100 meters depth) of the Indian ocean, the Red sea and the Mediterranean. Furthermore, more than 300 (MICLIB library) and 312 (TARMIC library) associated microorganisms of MACLIB and TARMAC libraries respectively, were collected. The samples were extracted and libraries of extracts were sent for biological evaluation. According to the results for MACLIB library, 5.30% of the extracts showed elastase and tyrosinase inhibitory activity, 7.94% inhibition to Fyn kinase, 6.35% to proteasome and 4.76% to CDK7 kinase. For TARMAC library 16.3% of the extracts showed tyrosinase inhibitory activity, 12.4% elastase inhibitory activity, 5.03% to FYN kinase, 15.64% to CDK7 kinase and 20.67% to proteasome. All active extracts were investigated for their chemical profiling employing UHPLC-HRMS techniques and the metabolites present in each extract were identified using molecular networks, in silico fragmentation and classical dereplication techniques based on databases. Selected extracts were fractionated and a library of fractions has been forwarded for bio-evaluation. From the active fractions compounds of interest have been isolated and identified by NMR and LC-MS. Furthermore, the biological activity of the associated microorganisms was examined. For MICLIB library, the microorganisms showed 0.5% inhibition activity to tyrosinase and elastase, 0.9% to Fyn kinase, 6.67% to CDK7 kinase and 1.67% to proteasome. For TARMIC extracts, ~80.1% were found to inhibit tyrosinase activity, 22.8% showed elastase inhibitory activity, 14.19% to FYN kinase, 7.67% to proteasome and 7.43% to CDK7 kinase. Finally a comparison between the LC-MS profiles of the invertebrate extracts and the profiles of the microbial symbionts was performed showing overlapping of 4 to14% indicating the contribution of microorganisms to the whole invertebrate metabolome.