PHARMACOGNOSY

Pharmacognosy: Fundamentals, Applications and Strategies, Second Edition represents a comprehensive compilation of the philosophical, scientific and technological aspects of contemporary pharmacognosy. The book examines the impact of the advanced techniques of pharmacognosy on improving the quality, safety and effectiveness of traditional medicines, and how pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics have a crucial role to play in discerning the relationships of active metabolites to bioavailability and function at the active sites, as well as the metabolism of plant constituents.

Structured in seven parts, the book covers the foundational aspects of Pharmacognosy, the chemistry of plant metabolites, their effects, other sources of metabolites, crude drugs from animals, basic animal anatomy and physiology, technological applications and biotechnology, and the current trends in research. New to this edition is a chapter on plant metabolites and SARS-Cov-2, extensive updates on existing chapters and the development of a Laboratory Guide to support instructors execute practical activities on the laboratory setting.

Dr. Badal McCreath is a distinguished young scientist who holds the 2014 Elsevier Early Career Woman Scientist award in Chemical Sciences for the Latin America and Caribbean region. She has over 10 years’ experience in natural products research and holds a patent pending for the anticancer potential of natural products using cancer and normal cell lines.

Dr. Badal McCreath holds a number of national and international awards and distinctions. At the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, she was the 2010 Inaugural Luther Speare Scholar in addition to being the Young Scientist/Technologist awardee at the biennial 23rd Science and Technology Conference and Expo hosted by the Scientific Research Council and the Jamaica Public Service Co. She along with collaborators was also the recipient of the 2013-2014 Principal’s award for best work in anticancer research, UWI, Mona. She is a current member of various editorial boards including: The Journal of Cancer Science & Clinical Research and American International Journal of Biology. She is also an advisory board member and reviewer affiliated with Open Access Biochemistry, London.

Dr. Badal McCreath is currently a Lecturer in the Department of Basic Medical Sciences at the UWI, Mona, Jamaica. In addition to having taught Pharmacognosy for 3 years at the University of Technology, Jamaica, her current work involves pioneering the development of novel Jamaican prostate cancer (PCa) cell lines - a project that received national funding totaling approximately 100,000 USD. As PCa incidence and mortality rates are highest among men of African descent, the development of these tools representative of PCa tumors will be available to the global scientific community in order to delineate reasons for the reduced survivorship among this group. These novel cell lines can be used to screen potentially derived natural drug leads for anticancer efficacy utilizing a personalized framework.

Dr. Badal McCreath is a well published author who is currently penning her first book, “A woman’s journey to success.” She is a dynamic scientific orator who has presented at many scientific meetings and conferences. She continues to share her expertise by training and supervising students at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels while volunteering on various nonprofit organizational boards including the Society for Scientific Advancement. She is passionate about implementing a framework that can elevate the nature of biomedical research in Jamaica and the Caribbean with a specific focus on anticancer research. Such a framework that will utilize the country's own natural resources can contribute to improving Jamaica's and the Caribbean's economic standing as they obtain a global competitive edge. She is also deeply committed to improving science awareness and interest at the primary and secondary levels.

Dr. Yuri N. Clement received his B.Sc. in Chemistry and Ph.D in Pharmacology from the University of the West Indies. He was appointed Professor of Pharmacology in February 2017. Dr. Clement has supervised PhD and MPhil students and was chair of the COVID-19 Therapeutics Review Committee in March 2020. He has written several book chapters, research articles in international and local scientific journals. Dr. Clement is a member of the Caribbean Academy of Sciences since 2012, and from the Traditional Medicine in the Islands since 2006.