Biochemistry & Pharmacology: Open Access
Open Access
ISSN: 2167-0501
ISSN: 2167-0501
Shanmugam Anusuya
Accepted Abstracts: Biochem & Pharmacol
Throughout our evolution, the importance of natural products for medicine and health has been enormous. The World Health Organization estimates that 80% of the people in developing countries of the world rely on traditional medicine for their primary health care, and about 85% of traditional medicine involves the use of plant extracts. This means that about 3.5 to 4 billion people in the world rely on plants as sources of drugs. Natural products and their derivatives continue to be rich sources for drug discovery. However, natural products are not drugs. They are the possible candidates for drug development. More than 60% of the drugs in market are derived from natural sources. During the last two decades, research aimed at exploiting natural products as a resource has seriously declined. This is in part due to the development of new technologies such as combinatorial chemistry, metagenomics and high-throughput screening. However, the new drug discovery approaches did not fulfill the initial expectations. In addition, there is an urgent need for new drugs to fight against infections caused by multi-resistant pathogens. These factors renewed the interest in natural products. Today, plants continue to retain their historical significance as important sources of novel compounds useful directly as medicinal agents, as model compounds for optimization, as biochemical and/or pharmacological probes, and as sources of inspiration for medicinal chemists in generating various synthetic organic compounds. Some of the plants have gained a new investigational or therapeutical status in recent years. Number of novel plant-derived substances has also entered into markets. Clinical plant- based research has made particularly rewarding progress in the important fields of anticancer (e.g. taxoids and camptothecins) and antimalarial (e.g. artemisinin compounds) therapies. The modern tools of chemistry and biology?in particular, the various ?omics' technologies, now allow scientists to detail the exact nature of the biological effects of natural compounds on the human body, as well as to uncover possible synergies, which holds much promise for the development of new therapies against many devastating diseases, including dementia and cancer. These illustrate the continuing value of plant-derived secondary metabolites as viable compounds for modern drug development.
Shanmugam Anusuya has completed her B.Pharmacy in Dr. M. G. R. Medical University, Chennai with distinction. She continues her post graduation in Bioinformatics in Bharathiar University, Coimbatore. She received her doctoral degree from Bharathiar University, Coimbatore on March 2012. She has published 6 papers in reputed international journals and few are yet to be submitted. Her research interest includes overcoming multidrug resistance leprosy; enhancing the bioremediation abilities of versatile peroxidase enzyme; designing a novel drug for dengue fever; and designing a potent pesticide based on the natural resources for Aedes aegypti mosquito, a vector for dengue. She also serves as an editorial member of a reputed journal, International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Reviews (IJIRR). She is the potential reviewer for so many journals.