Medicinal Plants - Recent Advances in Research and Development

Professor/Dr. Hsin-Sheng Tsay is a renowned researcher and teacher. He completed his Ph.D. in Agronomy from the National Taiwan University about 40 years ago. Tsay is working with medicinal plants indigenous to Taiwan and China. For the last 14 years, he has been working at the Chaoyang University of Technology. There he served as Dean, College of Science and Engineering, and Director and Chair Professor of Graduate Institute of Biotechnology. Professor Tsay has transferred about 20 technologies pertaining to the functional foods for commercialization. He has published 265 research papers, has guided 23 PhDs and more than 100 Masters Students. Professor/Dr. Lie-Fen Shyur is currently serving as a Research Fellow and Deputy Director in the Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taiwan and also holding Adjunct or Joint Professorships at five academic institutions in Taiwan.  Dr. Shyur’s lab research foci include (1) research and development of phytomedicines and their derived phyto-agents for prevention or therapy of inflammatory diseases, including cancers, septic shock, and hepatitis, (2) elucidating biosynthesis pathway of pharmacologically bioactive compounds in medicinal plants, and (3) industrial enzyme biotechnology.Professor/Dr. Agrawal graduated in 1976 from the Aligarh Muslim University (Central Govt. University) and after that obtained his Ph.D. degree in 1982 from the Garhwal University (Renamed as Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, and became Central Govt. University since 2009).  Professor Agrawal has more than 34 years of research experience in Plant Biotechnology of diverse species including medicinal plants. Professor/Dr. Yang-Chang Wu obtained his Ph.D. in Pharmacognosy from the College of Pharmacy, Kaohsiung Medical University (KMU), Taiwan in 1986. Attributed to his significant contribution to research on natural products, he was selected as the Chair Professor & Vice-President of Graduate Institute of Integrated Medicine and College of Chinese Medicine at China Medical University (CMU), Taiwan from 2010-2012. Since 2012, he was appointed as the Chair Professor & Vice-President as well as Dean of the School of Pharmacy, CMU, Taiwan. In 2007, he was awarded by Wang Ming-Ning Foundation for outstanding merit and high scholastic achievement to medical and pharmaceutical research.Dr. Sheng-Yang Wang is a Distinguished Professor at the Department of Forestry, National Chung-Hsing University, Taiwan. Dr. Wang obtained his Ph.D. Degree from the National Taiwan University. He is one of the well-known phytochemists in Taiwan and has expertise in the qualitative and quantitative determination of natural products by chromatography and spectroscopy.

• 1. Chinese Herbal Medicine-derived Products for Prevention or Treatment of Diseases Affecting Quality of Life.- 2. Ethnopharmacological Importance of Western Medicinal Herb, Scutellaria lateriflora.- 3. Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) - Approaches to Adulterant Detection in Herbal Products.- 4. DNA Barcoding of Medicinal Plants.- 5. Deciphering the Biosynthetic Pathways of Bioactive Compounds in Planta Using Omics Approaches.- 6. Memory Booster Plant Bacopa monniera (Brahmi): Biotechnology and Molecular Aspects of Bacosides Biosynthesis.- 7. Metabolic Engineering: Achieving New Insights to Ameliorate Metabolic Profiles in Withania somnifera.- 8. Salvia miltiorrhiza: a Medicinal Herb From Metabolites to Pathway Engineering.- 9. Biotechnology of Medicinal Plants in Taiwan – Studies on In Vitro Propagation and Influence of Ventilation Closures on Hyperhydricity in Cultures.- 10. PROPAGATION and Bioreactor Technology of Medicinal Plants – case Studies on Paclitaxel, 10-deacetylbaccatin III, and Camptothecin.- 11. Pharmacological Applications of Lucidone, A Naturally Occurring Cyclopentenedione.- 12. Pharmacokinetics of phytopharmaceuticals: A peek into Contingencies and Impediments in Herbal Drug Development.- 13. Green Tea and its Role in Cancer Prevention and Therapy.- 14. Chinese Medicinal Herbs as Source of Rational Anticancer Therapy.- 15 An Update on Antitumor Activity of Angelica Species.- 16. Advances in Chinese Herbal Medicine for Rheumatoid Arthritis: Clinical Utilization and Efficacy, Mechanism of Action, and Safety.- 17. Medicinal Plants Used in the Management of Non-Communicable Diseases in Uganda.- 18. Plant-derived Agents in Modulation of Rheumatoid Arthritis.- 19. Ayurvedic Plants With Anti-Diabetic Potential.- 20. Herbal Medicines: Boon or Bane for the Human Liver?.