Selçuk University Faculty Member Prof. Dr. Gökhan Zengin, who is working on the development of herbal medicines for the treatment of Alzheimer's, obesity and diabetes diseases, said that they want to develop the potential of natural resources in the field of health with the project they are planning.
Selçuk University (SU) Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, Department of Zoology Prof. Dr. Gökhan Zengin and his team, who are conducting studies to develop herbal medicines for Alzheimer's, obesity and diabetes diseases, aim to research the health potential of natural resources and develop herbal treatment methods.
“Plants have the potential to replace synthetic drugs”
Stating that the prevalence of diseases is increasing due to the increase in the human population, Prof. Dr. Zengin said, “Alzheimer's, obesity and diabetes are the leading diseases. No active treatment strategy suitable for these diseases has yet been developed. Therefore, synthetic drugs still rank first on pharmacy shelves. Our aim is to ensure that herbal medicines, which are safer than synthetic drugs and do not have any toxic properties, are available on pharmacy shelves. Especially by stopping the enzymes that play an important role in the pathology of diseases, we try to treat these diseases with herbal medicines. We have discovered that a large number of materials collected both in Turkey and coming to our laboratory from foreign countries really have the potential to replace synthetic drugs.”
Work on herbal medicine capsules continues
Stating that they are working on herbal capsules, Prof. Dr. Zengin said, “The biggest problem of those working in the field of plant biochemistry is the poor solubility of herbal extracts or herbal material in water. In order to overcome this problem, we are trying to transform herbal extracts into water-soluble and therefore more effectively transportable in the human body by using various methods.”
“Herbal samples from both domestic and foreign countries are examined in our laboratory”
Stating that they continue their work with a team of 5 people in total, two of whom are foreign students, Zengin said, “In our laboratory, chemical characterization of plant samples provided from our country or abroad and analyzes to determine their biological potential are carried out. Our laboratory is particularly active in terms of international collaborations. Our international collaborations with approximately 40 countries and more than 200 researchers continue.”
İHA Haber Kodu: 20240918AW289869