BOTANICAL CENTER RESEARCH

One of the main goals of the Center for Research on Dietary Botanical Supplements is to learn more about commonly used dietary botanical supplements.  Research focuses primarily on two of the most commonly used supplements, Echinacea and Hypericum (St. John's wort).  The Center includes three research project divisions and three cores:

Research Project Divisions

• Project 1: Defining anti-viral activities in Echinacea, Hypericum, and Prunella species
  - Focuses on distinguishing and mechanistically characterizing the antiviral activities found in the three species.
  More about Project 1

• Project 2: Anti-inflammatory activity of Echinacea, Hypericum, and Prunella species
  - Focuses on assessing the effects of the supplements on pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine/chemokine balance.
  More about Project 2

• Project 3: Pain receptor mediated anti-inflammatory activity of Echinacea and Hypericum species
  - Focuses on examining relationships between bioactive Echinacea and Hypericum constituents as well as the regulation of the TRPV1 ion channel.
  More about Project 3

Core Divisions

• Core A: Germplasm and Phytochemical Profiling

  Focuses on conservation, supply, and characterization of known-source plant germplasm to serve as feedstocks in support of Center projects. 
  More about Core A

• Core B: Separations/Structure/Bioavailabililty 
  - Focuses on supporting resources for extraction, fractionation, and structural determination of phytochemicals. 
  More about Core B

• Core C: Administration, Data Management, Statistics, and Bioinformatics
  - Focuses on overall planning and administration, supports effective data management, and supplies bioinformatics and statistical services to the other Center Cores and Projects.
  More about Core C