![]() ![]() Two new studies illuminate chemical compounds in foxgloves Foxgloves make these powerful compounds, but it takes two years to do so, and they don't make them in a very large quantity. "I want to understand how we can harness the power of nature to make the process of producing medicinal compounds more efficient and sustainable. They can't run away when stresses come, so they cope with this by becoming the most extraordinary chemists on the planet."Īnd yet, "How plants synthesize many natural products is largely unknown," Wang says. "The reason why plants make so many natural products with medicinal properties is because they are also fighting diseases," says Wang, PhD, assistant professor of biological sciences in the UB College of Arts and Sciences. Specifically, her lab is investigating the chemical processes the plants use to create cardiac glycosides: what steps are taken, what genes are turned on, and what enzymes are deployed. Farming foxgloves is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and Wang hopes to change that. ![]() Wang's research investigates how foxgloves create these medicinal compounds, with an eye toward improving the process. ![]() But plants belonging to this genus, Digitalis, also harbor a less visible asset: Chemicals called cardiac glycosides, which have been recorded to treat heart failure since the 1780s, says University at Buffalo biologist Zhen Wang. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |