Barbara Frei Haller: Catalogue data in Autumn Semester 2017

Name Dr. Barbara Frei Haller
E-mailbarbaraf@ethz.ch
URLhttp://www.ethnobiology.ch/de/personen/frei_haller_barbara.html
DepartmentChemistry and Applied Biosciences
RelationshipLecturer

NumberTitleECTSHoursLecturers
535-0344-00LFrom Ethnopharmacy to Molecular Pharmacognosy1 credit1VB. Frei Haller, J. Gertsch
AbstractBasic understanding and awareness of ethnopharmaceutical and ethnopharmacological issues and research. Knowledge of methods used in drug discovery from natural sources. Discussion of the issues around law and international treaties. Importance of ethnopharmaceutical knowledge for world health.
ObjectiveBasic understanding and awareness of ethnopharmaceutical and ethnopharmacological issues and research. Knowledge of methods used in drug discovery from natural sources. Discussion of the issues around law and international treaties. Importance of ethnopharmaceutical knowledge for world health.
ContentIntroduction into ethnopharmacy and related disciplines: definitions of terms, working methods, research projects, bioprospecting. Traditional medicinal plants of different cultures and their role in modern Western medicine (rational application of traditional uses), today's "fashion plants." Empirical, traditional knowledge versus Evidence Based Medicine. The role of biodiversity (CBD, Rio 1992; Nagoya, 2010) and problems associated with drug discovery from natural products. Screening strategies for drug discovery (random screening versus screening based on cultural, ecological, ethnopharmacological, chemotaxonomic criteria). Traditional knowledge in relation to the fight against malaria and its implementation in research, product development and development cooperation. Introduction to and selected examples of herbal drugs and poisons, mode of action, and their ethnopharmacological importance. Critical analysis of bioprospecting as a drug discovery strategy.
Lecture notesHandouts will be provided.
LiteraturePlants in Our World, Economic Botany (2014) Beryl B. Simpson; Molly Conner Ogorzaly, 4th ed. , MacGraw-Hill, Boston
Prerequisites / NoticePrerequisites: Basic lectures in biology or biochemistry and pharmaceutical biology have been attended; not suitable for first semester students.