Joint research center dedicated at Guangxi Botanical Garden of
Medicinal Plants
NANNING,
China — Middle Tennessee
State University’s partnership in China studying modern uses of ancient herbal
remedies has yielded almost 40 results showing promise in the treatment of
cancer, viral infections and other ailments.
The report came
as an MTSU delegation concluded last weekend its visit to the Guangxi Botanical
Garden of Medicinal Plants, named in 2011 as the world’s largest medicinal herb
garden by the Guinness Book of World Records. Located in Nanning in southern
China, the garden features more than 7,400 medicinal plants.
MTSU President
Sidney A. McPhee and Miao Jianhua, vice president of the Guangxi Academic
Science Institute and garden director, celebrated the partnership’s progress
with the christening of an MTSU-branded Joint Research Center at the garden’s
new research laboratory and headquarters.
“I am committed
to making sure we produce ground-breaking research that will help the people of
China, help the people of America and, perhaps, the people of the world,”
McPhee said in remarks before the dedication.
The Tennessee
Center for Botanical Medicine Research, based at MTSU, and the Guangxi garden
are partners in an exclusive collaborative agreement that seeks to accelerate
the development of Western medicines from plant extracts.
The
partnership, which began in 2011, plays to the strengths of both institutions.
Garden researchers cultivate and prepare extracts. Then, MTSU scientists, led
by professor Elliot Altman, screen the samples to determine their promise in
the treatment of ailments.
McPhee, who
said he was impressed with Miao’s leadership in the project, also suggested
that garden researchers assist the university in growing some botanical samples
at MTSU’s 500-acre agriculture complex at Guy James Farm.
“I think it has
great potential, because our agricultural program is one of the best in the Southeast
and we have a lot of good farmland,” McPhee said.
The application
of traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of a variety of diseases is
an ancient and respected tradition widely accepted in the Far East and gaining
in awareness within Western cultures.
About 800
plants at the garden have been shown to have potential in treating a variety of
diseases. Researchers at the garden have been preparing extracts from these
plants. This has yielded a library of up to 400,000 compounds that MTSU
researchers can explore.
Iris Gao, an
MTSU assistant professor who accompanied Altman as a member of the China
delegation, said the university would like to increase that library even
further. She asked for Miao to provide more extracts for study.
Miao agreed,
saying that MTSU “has what we need” to move the project forward. The director
said he would personally oversee the next phases of the partnership.
After unveiling
the Joint Research Center’s sign outside the Guangxi laboratory, the delegation
also toured the garden, as well as a nearby pharmaceutical industry park that
is poised to produce products developed by the partnership.
MTSU’s
delegation was headed by McPhee and includes state Senate Majority Caucus
Chairman Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, a 1976 graduate of the university.
Ketron joined
McPhee in signaling support for the partnership, saying that he felt the
collaboration “held great promise for advancements in science and medicine.”
McPhee and Ketron also told their Chinese hosts about MTSU’s new $147 million
Science Building, set to open in 2015, which will aid in the collaboration.
The university’s
delegation has renewed or established relationships with Shanghai Jiao Tong
University, Hangzhou Normal University and the Research Institute of Industrial
Design of Shunde. The delegation was set to visit institutions in Chongqing and
Beijing before returning to Tennessee on Tuesday.
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