World Wildlife Day: Medicinal and Aromatic Plants: Conserving Health, Heritage and Livelihoods
an eSeminar (03.03.2026)
As we celebrate United Nations World Wildlife Day on 03.03., the Society for Medicinal Plant and Natural Products Research (GA) stands at the intersection of conservation and innovation.
This year’s theme, “Medicinal and Aromatic Plants: Conserving Health, Heritage and Livelihoods”, highlights a critical truth: we cannot protect human health without protecting the wild ecosystems that provide our most vital natural products.
The date, March 3rd, marks the adoption of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), underscoring the vital importance of conservation and sustainable use of wildlife resources.
The GA will mark the date with an online symposium where members of the society will introduce important plants from around the globe in a flash talk focusing on a regional plant.
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More InformationQuantitative approaches for assessing the genotoxicity of estragole
a presentation by Prof Dr George Johnson as part of the eSeminar Estragole – Occurence, toxicity and regulation of the alkenylbenzene estragole in food and botanical drugs (23.02.2026)
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More InformationMedicinal plants for women’s health: advances, evidence, and emerging therapies
an eSeminar (20 .02.2026)
This e-Seminar explores the role of medicinal plant research in advancing women’s health through evidence-based insights and emerging therapies. With several women-specific health conditions, facing unmet needs in care, management and/or treatment, evidence-based phytotherapies could provide a promising approach. In this e-Seminar, we will explore scientific advances, therapeutic potential, and emerging innovations that support the sustainable improvements in women’s well-being and healthcare.
Topics and Speakers
Antimicrobial Science, and She-Health: Targeting Urinary and Vaginal Pathogens with Essential Oils
Prof Sandy Van Vuuren (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa)
Rising antimicrobial resistance patterns and microbiota disruption in urinary and vaginal infections necessitate alternative therapeutic strategies for women’s health. This presentation will uncover the antimicrobial, antibiofilm, toxicity, and microbiota-sparing effects of essential oils and their combinations against urogenital pathogens. Selected oils demonstrated broad-spectrum activity, biofilm inhibition, and favourable safety profiles, with certain combinations outperforming individual oils. These findings support the potential of essential oils, alone or combined with antibiotics, as promising candidates for microbiota-preserving interventions in women’s urogenital health.
One step after the other: Bryophyllum pinnatum in preterm birth and gynaecological ailments
Prof Dr Ana Paula Simões-Wüst (University Hospital of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland)
The tropical succulent plant Bryophyllum pinnatum is used for a wide range of indications in ethnomedicine. Noteworthy constituents include rather ubiquitous flavonoids as well as bufadienolides, a class of compounds more characteristic of Bryophyllum spp. In Europe, preparations of this medicinal herb were introduced in the treatment of preterm labour as early as the 1970s. More recently, B. pinnatum has also been used to treat overactive bladder and dysmenorrhoea. Several clinical projects have demonstrated good effectiveness and very good tolerability. Research into the mode of action of B. pinnatum in preterm labour has shown that leaf press juice reduces the intensity of contractions in human myometrial biopsies, with a bufadienolide-enriched fraction exerting a particularly strong effect. In vitro studies with human myometrial cells have revealed that B. pinnatum constituents inhibit oxytocin-induced calcium signalling and pro-inflammatory pathways. Such effects are also promising for the treatment of overactive bladder and dysmenorrhoea.
Co-Chairs
Dr Banaz Jalil, University College London, United Kingdom
Prof Lyndy J. McGaw, University of Pretoria, South Africa
This seminar will take place on the 20th of February 2026, at 3.00 PM (CET).
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More InformationNMR Data Processing, Assignment, and FAIR Data Publishing with NMRium
an eWorkshop (2026)
Workshop outline:
- Data Management Overview – Principles and best practices for storing, organizing, and sharing NMR datasets to ensure long-term accessibility and compliance with FAIR data standards.
- Basic 1D NMR Spectrum Processing and Assignment (Ethyl Vinyl Ether) – Step-by-step demonstration of basic processing and peak assignment on a simple spectrum to introduce the workflow and interface.
- Advanced Spectral Assignment Using 1D and 2D Spectra (Ibuprofen) – Practical strategies for correlating 1D and 2D spectral information (COSY, HSQC, HMBC, etc.) to achieve more complex structural assignments.
- STOCSY Analysis – Exploration of an array of 1D NMR data and demonstration of Statistical Total Correlation Spectroscopy (STOCSY) to reveal relationships between molecules in real-world forensic NMR data.
- E-Learning Exercises – Guided and self-paced practice tasks for reinforcing skills learned during the session.
- Publishing Data to Zenodo – Walk-through the available direct integration of NMRium with functions for the publishing of processed datasets to Zenodo, ensuring that data are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR).
By the end of this workshop, participants were able to:
- Process and assign 1D and 2D NMR spectra using NMRium
- Create and publish FAIR-compliant NMR datasets with minimal effort
Chairman
Dr. Emerson F. Queiroz, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Speaker
Dr. Luc Patiny, Zakodium Sàrl, Lonay, Switzerland
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More InformationLand to Lab: Turning Sustainability into Practice
an eSeminar (2026)
John Walsh
NatPro, Trinity Centre for Natural Products Research, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Presenting: Less is more: sustainable miniature methods for the isolation of key natural products.Olha Mykhailenk
National University of Pharmacy, Ukraine | UCL School of Pharmacy, UK | Kiel University, Germany
Presenting: Rationale for the research and use of medicinal plants within the framework of sustainable development.Josef Brinkmann
American Botanical Council, USA
Presenting: Whole ecosystem approach to sustainable production of pharmacopoeial quality herbal drugs
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More InformationClinical Testing of HMP in Africa
an eSeminar (2024)
- Prof. Sylvin Ouedraogo (IRSS, Burkina Faso):
Unveiling the preclinical dataset of a herbal treatment
for sickle cell disease. - Dr. Merlin Willcox (University of Southampton, UK):
A step-by-step guide on developing a phase III clinical
trial design - Prof. Motlalepula Matsabisa (University of the Free
State, South Africa):
Insights into the challenges and opportunities of clinical
testing of HMPs in Africa.
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More InformationSpecialized metabolites from ant microbiomes
by Prof Monica Tallarico Pupo (2022)
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More InformationFrom ethnobotany to synthetic biology for natural products
by Prof Oliver Kayser (2022)
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More InformationAccess and benefit sharing under the Nagoya protocol – quo vadis?
by Dr Carmenza Spadafora, Prof Michael Heinrich (2021)
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More InformationOpportunities and challenges of the One Health approach
by Dr Dagmar Heim, Dr Katharina Stärk (2021)
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More InformationUnlocking nature’s pharmacy – from plant to product. An academic odyssey
by Prof Helen Sheridan (2021)
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More InformationAdvanced high-resolution chromatographic strategies for efficient isolation of natural products from complex biological matrices
by Dr Emerson Ferreira Queiroz (2021)
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More InformationInterview with Arnold Vlietinck
on the occasion of the Planta Medica Special Issue dedicated to his 80th birthday (2021)
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More InformationFrom Cannabis to the Endocannabinoid System.
Lecture by Prof. Dr. Jürg Gertsch, Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Bern, Switzerland.
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More InformationNature-derived peptides: a unique chemical space for bioactive molecule discovery
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Christian Gruber, Medical University of Vienna
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More InformationSupercritical fluid technologies for natural product research
Dr. Ulrike Grienke
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More InformationOrigin and Ethnopharmacology of Cannabis
Prof. Dr. Jürg Gertsch
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More InformationHow to read clinical studies
Dr. Jasmine Fokkens
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More InformationChemistry, Mode of Action and Clinical Efficacy of the Anticancer Diterpenoid Tigilanol Tiglate (EBC-46)
Giovanni Appendino, Paul Reddell
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More InformationThe evolution of animal self-medication and lessons for the development of medicine and new medicines
Michael A. Huffman
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More InformationWill Perplexity Prevail over Complexity in Biomedical Natural Products Research?
Guido F Pauli
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More InformationAnalysis of bioactive compounds from frogs plants and microorganisms from the Brazilian biodiversity
(Plenary lecture during the 67th Annual Meeting in Innsbruck, 2019)
Norberto Peporine Lopes
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More InformationFrom biosynthesis to biotechnology of cannabinoids
Prof. Dr. Oliver Kayser
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More InformationEthnopharmacology and phytotherapy: research opportunities in a challenging environment
Prof. Dr. Michael Heinrich
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More InformationNatural product biotechnology – limits and expectations
Prof. Dr. Oliver Kayser
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More InformationQuality control of Chinese herbal medicines
Prof. R. Bauer Graz
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More InformationScreening virtual and physical natural product libraries to identify bioactive hits and leads
Prof. T. Schmidt Münster
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More InformationBasics of polysaccharide analysis
Prof. Dr. Andreas Hensel, University of Münster
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More InformationMetabolomics in Natural Products Chemistry
Dr. Maria Halabalaki, University of Athens
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More InformationDissecting the molecular mechanism of bioactive natural products – Why should you bother and how should you do it
Dr. Elke Heiss, University of Vienna
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