Events

GA-eSeminar: Synergy research – uncovering the action of natural products

21. March, 2025, 3.00 PM (CET), online

Synergy has been defined as an interaction or cooperation giving rise to a whole that is greater than the sum of its constituents. Given that the action of natural products is based on the multiplicity of their constituents, the synergistic effects involved in their action are key for their medical use. Research on these actions has been revolutionized in the past decades by methods quantifying synergy and by genomics techniques. Given that, GA is aiming at creating awareness for synergy research by conferring the GA Synergy Award.

This GA e-Seminar gives an overview of the basic principles and the newest developments in the research on the multiple interactions between the components of natural products,  which uncover the basis for their medicinal use. Prof. Dr. Gudrun Ulrich-Merzenich will give an introduction to the topic, followed by the awardees of the 2023 and 2024 GA Synergy Award, Dr. Stephanie Leigh and Prof. Dr. Andreas Bender, presenting their award-winning research.

Lecturers:

• Prof. Dr. Gudrun Ulrich-Merzenich, Synergy Research and Experimental Medicine workgroup, University Hospital (UKB), Medical Clinic III, Bonn, Germany:
  Introduction and outlook
• Dr. Stephanie Leigh, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa:
  Exploring the synergistic effects of essential oil combinations for use in the respiratory tract: A synergy study
• Prof. Dr. Andreas Bender, Professor for Machine Learning in Medicine, Department of Medicine at Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi; CTIO of Pangea Bio; Visiting Professor at the University of Cambridge, UK and GA Synergy Awardee:
  My Research on Synergy (and Other Topics): So What Did I Now Learn (If Anything At All)?

Chair:   

• Prof. Dr. Michael Heinrich, Research Group ‘Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy’, UCL School of Pharmacy, Univ. London, UK

Registration Link

Application for the GA Synergy Award 2025 (deadline March 30): click here.