HEALTH > ISRAEL
Plants could boost local industry in the Mediterranean Could the medicinal plant sector www.enpi-info.eu become a catalyst for development in the Mediterranean? The challenge for researchers at the Bio-Xplore project is to identify and isolate plant compounds that may have a commercial potential. The final aim of the project – implemented under the EU funded ENPI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme ¬– is to create jobs and to boost local industry in the spheres of agriculture, food, cosmetics, pharmaceutical supplement and biotech, while at the same time protecting natural resources. An EU Neighbourhood Info Centre journalist visited the laboratory where scientists (and students) do their screening. Text by: Marc Weiss Pictures by: AFP © EU/Neighbourhood Info Centre JERUSALEM - Some 25,000 different plants grow in the Mediterranean basin, but less than one percent of them have been scientifically studied. Aspirin and about a quarter of all medicines used today originate from plants, so the potential, and not only for medicinal use, is enormous. The natural products sector, including herbal medicines, teas, cosmetics and perfumes, is a fast-growing industry worldwide. It was to tap into this potential that the Bio-Xplore project was set up: to identify and develop valuable natural products derived from Mediterranean flora. Coordinated by Hadassah College President, Professor Bertold Fridlender, partners from four countries have joined the project: Israel's Hadassah College, the Biodiversity and Environmental Research Centre (Palestinian Authority), Leitat Technology Centre (Spain), and the Hellenic Regional Development Centre (Greece), as This publication does well as two associate partners, Rutgers University (New Jersey) and North Carolina University (United States). not represent the official view of the EC Testing plant families: which plant kills what? or the EU institutions. EU Neighbourhood Info Centre Bio-Xplore uses a technique developed by Rutgers to screen up to a The EC accepts no Feature no. 97 hundred samples of plants at a time. In April 2012, the teams from responsibility or This is a series of features on projects Greece, Spain and the Palestinian Authority came to Israel to learn liability whatsoever funded by the EU, prepared by the technique at first hand. The plants are picked, crushed and with regard to its journalists and photographers on the turned into a liquid extract, which is then transferred into a special content. ground or the EU Neighbourhood plate containing various bacteria, fungi or parasites. If, for instance, Info Centre. a particular plant extract kills off roundworm samples in the plate, © 2013 EU/Neighbourhood Info Centre the researchers know that this plant may have compounds that can
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be developed for medicinal use. Dr Gili Joseph, Bio-Xplore's project manager, who received her Post Doctorate at Rutgers, explains that there are around 2,800 plant species in Israel, and in order to screen so many plants you have to do it quickly. "We go out in the field once a week with students and a leading botanist, but we need to extract the plant immediately and use it within 24-48 hours, otherwise it loses its activity. If we are far from our Jerusalem lab, we
Prof. Bertold Fridlender, president of the Hadassah Academic College( R ) and Gili Joseph (PhD), the BioXplore project manager(L)
have to carry out the tests in the field." Along with four permanent members of the Jerusalem team, there are 16 students working on the Bio-Xplore project, including five Israeli Arabs and Palestinians from east Jerusalem. The Israeli team have already tested more than 1,000 plant samples since the two-year project was launched in November 2011, and have already discovered some promising plant families, which may have a commercial potential. Plants develop over thousands of years, adapt to climatic conditions and synchronize new compounds for protection against pests, parasites and fungi. The challenge of the Bio-Xplore researchers is to identify and isolate the compounds that may have a commercial potential. From identification to ‘dose response’ Professor Fridlender, speaking at the Hadassah College laboratory in the centre of Jerusalem, says the potential is enormous. "We've already found compounds that we may be able to use to combat human infections and to fight diabetes, as well as high anti-oxidants that might be used in the cosmetics and food supplement industry. After identifying the plant compounds, we can move on to controlled growing of the relevant plants and to the production of the final product." Once the compounds showing potential have been identified, the next stage is "dose response": diluting the extract to see at which concentration it remains active. The researchers must also ensure that the compound is non-toxic. The final stage will be to attempt to grow the active compound in a laboratory or outside, in commercially viable quantities. The total cost of the 24-month Bio-Xplore project is two million euros, of which the European Union is contributing 90 percent through the European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) under the ENPI Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme. The four partners together contribute the other ten percent. Contacts have already been made with pharmaceutical and cosmetics companies in Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Spain and Greece to use their expertise and financial backing for the further development of products. The aim is to create jobs and boost local industry in the agriculture, food, cosmetics, pharmaceutical supplement and biotech spheres, while at the same time protecting natural resources. The four partners have agreed that any royalties will be divided equally, with all four countries benefitting. Israeli-Palestinian teams joining hands The Israeli-Palestinian scientific cooperation generated by Bio-Xplore is relatively rare in a region where conflict tends to get in the way of joint development initiatives. However, both sides decided to put politics aside and concentrate on the work at hand, which has the potential to benefit both populations. The Palestinian team, working from the Biodiversity and Environmental Research Centre in Nablus, the West Bank's largest city, have already screened almost 1,500 plant extracts from across the West Bank. The team is in almost daily contact with their Israeli partners in Jerusalem. Staff from Nablus have visited Hadassah College and vice versa, and the Israeli centre has purchased
“We go out in the field once a week with students and a leading botanist, but we need to extract the plant immediately and use it within 24-48 hours, otherwise it loses its activity” “We've already found compounds that we may be able to use to combat human infections and to fight diabetes, as well as high anti-oxidants that might be used in the cosmetics and food supplement industry” n Students perform experiments at the Hadassah Academic College BioXplore laboratory in the city of Jerusalem
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“Till now there has been no scientific knowledge, and we hope our research will help in combatting diabetes, cancer, abdominal pain and hypertension”.
equipment for the Nablus laboratory that was difficult to obtain in the West Bank. "Using plant extracts for medicinal purposes is very common in the West Bank and Gaza and such products are available at herbalists and nature shops," explained Dr Rana Jamoos, the head of Biodiversity and Biotechnology at the Nablus Biodiversity and Environmental Research Centre. "However, up till now there has been no scientific knowledge, and we hope our ren A bottle containing herbal extract search will help in combatting diabetes, cancer, abdominal pain and hypertension." The Israeli and Palestinian teams are also examining the possibility of expanding the project in the future to include neighbouring Jordan.
BIO - XPLORE Novel methodology for the Identification of Valuable Natural Products Derived from Mediterranean Flora
http://www.enpicbcmed.eu/documenti/29_153_20111028122848.pdf The project intends to employ effective screening methodologies for identifying commercially valuable natural compounds which are derived from the diverse and relatively unexplored flora of the Mediterranean area. The final aim is to increase local job opportunities and cross-border scientific, business and cultural interaction. Expected results: • Four bio-exploration centers providing scientific and educational support • Identification of new natural compounds with potential for cosmetics, food, supplements and/or pharmaceuticals industries • Joint scientific publications • Increased employment and business opportunities in the agriculture, food, cosmetics, supplement pharmaceutical and biotech industry
Budget : € 1.999.400 Duration : 24 months
To find out more: CBC MED Programme website http://www.enpicbcmed.eu/ CBC Cross Border Cooperation EU Neighbourhood Info Centre fiche: http://www.enpi-info.eu/mainmed.php?id=171&id_type=10 EU Neighbourhood Info Centre thematic portal: HEALTH http://www.enpi-info.eu/thememed.php?subject=16
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