Research for the Development of Cosmeceutical and Pharmaceutical Products from SA Medicinal Plants done at The University of Pretoria using CAMAG HPTLC
The Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at the University of Pretoria recently procured the CAMAG HPTLC system (CAMAG® Automatic TLC Sampler 4, CAMAG®).
Automatic Development Chamber, CAMAG® TLC Visualiser 2 and CAMAG® Immersion Device) with funding from the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), which is the first to be installed with the latest version of the visionCATS software (2.0) for qualitative and quantitative analysis.
From left to right: Mr Bruno Steiner, Mr Raphael Vizzini (CAMAG-Senior Area Manager Europe, ME, CIS and Africa), Professor Namrita Lall and Doctor Marco Nuno De Canha.
Professor Namrita Lall, the current NRF/ DSI-SARCHI (South African Research Chairs Initiative) Chair for Plant Health Products from Indigenous Knowledge Systems heads a team of 21 postgraduate students, including postdoctoral researchers for the development of cosmeceutical and pharmaceutical products from Southern African medicinal plants. The research team is split into three main groups: cancer research team, skin diseases research team and the tuberculosis research team. One of the major challenges students face with regards to the publication of research articles, are the aspects of chemical characterisation and standardisation of medicinal plant extracts.
The research teams will use the CAMAG® HPTLC system to generate extract fingerprints and quantify isolated secondary metabolites showing bioactivity, to ultimately improve research outputs in higher impact, peer-reviewed journals. Professor Lall’s multidisciplinary research also comprises aspects of bioprospecting, access and benefit-sharing, which involves a collaborative project with a traditional healer TDr. Ephraim Cebisa Mabena (founder of Mothong African Heritage). The aim of this collaboration is to construct a pilot manufacturing facility in the Mamelodi community, which will manufacture active ingredients for the personal care industry in South Africa, from lead extracts developed at the University of Pretoria.
The CAMAG® HPTLC system will be used to assist with the quality control and quality assurance of extracts produced at this facility, to maintain a high standard of consistent active ingredients.
The equipment will also be used to generate two monographs that will be included in the second edition of the African Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AfrHP2), a project being headed by PharmaConnectAfrica (PCA) and the Association for African Medicinal Plants Standards (AAMPS).
One of Prof Lall’s Postdoctoral Research Fellows, Dr Marco Nuno De Canha, is very excited to be given the opportunity to travel to CAMAG® (in Switzerland) in September, to receive advanced training on the CAMAG® system so as to utilise this training for maximum, advanced operation of the procured system in the near future.
