Last Updated: May 30, 2008
COLLABORATION RESOURCES
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Name
Affiliation
Expertise/interests
Potential role in project
Contact information
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- Postings from individuals and groups interested in collaborating on a 2009 ICBG application
Name: Manah Dindi
Affiliation: Chemistry Strand, University of Papua New Guinea
Expertise/interests: Interest in documentation, isolation and identification
of traditional medicinal plants.
Potential role in project: I have been sponsored by ICBG-PNG from 2004-2006
to work on my masters project.I was also trained in the US for 5 months under the
same programme on prefractionation of plant extract,isolation and identification on
bioactive compounds. I want to colloborate as an individual in the project.
Contact information:
Manah Dindi
Chemistry Strand
School of Natural & Physical Sciences
PO BOX 320 University of Papua New Guinea
Waigani Campus
Papua New Guinea
e-mail: mdindi@upng.ac.pg
Ph:(675) 3267 230 or (675) 678 2949(mobile)
fax: (675) 326 0369
- Postings from individuals and groups interested in collaborating on a 2007 ICBG application
Name: Initiative for Biodiversity Studies in Arid Regions
(IBSAR): An Interfaculty Center of the American University of Beirut
Affiliation: American University of Beirut, Lebanon
Expertise/interests: The Center has four areas of interest:
• Traditional Knowledge and Biotechnology. Based on Arab ancestral knowledge in
medicine and the use of biotechnology and clinical research, the Center focuses on
characterizing, verifying, and validating the beneficial effects of plants and other
natural resources, while exploring their safe use and marketability. This program
seeks to develop products attractive to biotechnology industries.
• Identification, Characterization, and Monitoring of
Biodiversity. Biodiversity in the Mediterranean and arid lands of the
Middle East is intertwined with local culture and livelihoods. The
Center conducts its scientific activities in a context
where, at present, both nature and people are marginalized, and it seeks to
re-position them as central to a sustainable future. The Center adopts
trans-disciplinary approaches to identify and promote local conservation measures in
parallel with scientific assessments of species and habitats.
• Landscape Approach to Biodiversity Conservation.
Landscape research at the Center
aims to develop efficient spatial planning of project sites to ensure the
preservation of local landscape character and sustainable use of land resources.
The group integrates cultural heritage by focusing on rural practices, and applying
a holistic approach that ensures responsiveness to the natural, semi-natural, rural,
and urban context.
• Sustainable Use of Biodiversity. Through research,
studying market needs, and
modernizing production and cultivation techniques of plants native to the region,
researchers have partnered with the private sector to generate ideas leading to the
introduction of new products and the creation of new industries.
• Knowledge Sharing. The Center seeks to increase awareness of
the value of biodiversity and interest in nature conservation. Through projects
and partnerships
with NGOs, the Center expands interest in biodiversity beyond conservationists and
nature lovers to include private businesses, the arts community, and environmental
NGOs to extend their capabilities and impacts.
Potential role in project: The multidisciplinary team at IBSAR
has expertise in identifying plants and molecules that possess bioactive
properties. Many of the
plants have a well established role in traditional Arab medicine and culinary
practices. Plants from the region are collected and cultivated, extracted, and
tested for their potential effects on major diseases such as cancer, inflammation,
microbial infections, and to determine where they might have preventative healthcare
uses. In the past few years, taxonomic identification and biological screening of
water and methanolic extracts of plants against several normal and tumor cell lines
led to the selection of several plants possessing potent bio-activites. Bio-guided
fractionation procedures of plant extracts against a panel of inflammation, colon,
skin, and lymphoma cancer cells led to the isolation and the identification of
anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer compounds. IBSAR recognizes the tight coupling of
chronic inflammatory diseases and cancer and this lends itself towards
bio-prospection for both preventive and therapeutic cancer treatments. ibsar
ongoing research aims at utilizing well-established molecular, cellular and animal
models and markers of cancer and inflammation to explore the potential of Lebanese
endemic plants in prevention and treatment. Skin, colon, and blood cancers cell
culture models are used and those are coupled to in vivo models. In addition,
In vitro cell models, a rodent mammary and intestinal cell models, and an in vivo
rodent model of chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are also used to test for
anti-inflammatory effects.
Contact information:
Dr. Salma N. Talhouk, PhD
Director IBSAR (Initiative for Biodiversity Studies in Arid Regions)
American University of Beirut
P.O.Box 11-0236
Riad El-Solh 1107 2020
Beirut, Lebanon
Phone + 961 1 350000 ext 4508
Fax 961 1 374374 ext 4505
Email: ntsalma@aub.edu.lb
Website: www.ibsar.org
Name: Nuno Filipe Ribeiro Pinto de Oliveira Azevedo
Affiliation: IBB—Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering,
Centre for Biological Engineering, Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar
4710-057, Braga, Portugal
Expertise/interests:
Our research interests range from the environmental ecology of the microbial
pathogen Helicobacter pylori to the development of molecular ecology tools,
particularly fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and PCR, for the rapid
detection and physiological assessment of microorganisms in different types of
samples, with a special focus on water. On these two technologies, we have been
mostly involved in developing peptide nucleic acid (PNA) FISH and ethidium monoazide
bromide (EMA)-PCR
Potential role in project:
With our extensive knowledge on molecular biology techniques and our geographic
location, that allows easy access to several sampling sites in the Atlantic Ocean
(including the Azores and Madeira islands), we would be of particular interest for
any project with the goal of exploring the biodiversity of microbial populations in
the ocean
Contact information:
Nuno Filipe Azevedo
Centro de Engenharia Biológica
Universidade do Minho
Campus de Gualtar
4700-057 Braga
Portugal
e-mail: nunoazevedo@deb.uminho.pt
Tel: +351 253604400
Fax: +351 253678986
Name: Mary Voytek
Affiliation: USGS Water Resources Discipline
Expertise/interests: Environmental Microbiology, biogeochemistry,
bioremediation, biogenic methane and biofuels.
Potential role in project: Assessment of microbial potenital for
bioremediation or biofuel generation
Contact information:
Mary Voytek
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston, VA 20192
(703) 648-6894
(703) 648-5484 FAX
Project Colleagues: William Ore, organic geochemist
Edward Landa, soil scientist, metals and radionuclide chemist
Name: Ahmed A. Hussein
Affiliation: Chemistry of Medicinal Plants, National Research
Center, El Behouth St., P.O.Box 12311, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt.
Expertise/interests: Our research interests concentrated on
the isolation and identification of bioactive compounds from natural sources
(marine and terrestrial), the scope of the activity could be: cytotoxicity
against human cancer cell lines, blocking of sugar absorption sites by natural
compounds and it's contribution to the human health. Also we are interesting in
the application of triterpenoides and coumarins in the field of treatment of
neurodegenerative diseases, e.g. Alzehiemer.
Potential role in project: We have strong and deep knowledge in
chemistry of natural products, also we can read easily the Arabic traditional
medicine and conclude in which field can be used. We have also expertise in
the collection and identification of marine organisms and related bacteria
from Red Sea.
Contact information:
Ahmed A. Hussein
Chemistry of Medicinal Plants
National Research Center, El Behouth St.
P.O.Box 12311
Dokki, Cairo
Egypt
e-mail:hussss4@yahoo.com
Tel: +002012-768-149<4/p>