Pharmacological Benefits of Natural Agents

Ashok Kumar Pandurangan is an associate professor in School of Life Sciences, B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology, Vandalur, Chennai, India. He pursued his PhD in the prestigious University of Madras, Guindy campus, Chennai, India in the area of natural products as a therapeutic agent for colorectal cancer. Later, he was postdoctoral researcher in Center for Cancer research, Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, Oakland, California, USA. Further he completed two postdoctoral research programs in Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Universiti of Putra Malaysia and Department of Pharmacology, University of Malaya, Malaysia. He is currently interested to work in the area of colitis associated cancer (CAC) in murine model. Colitis associated cancer is very common nowadays in developing countries. Ulcerative Colitis (UC) is a type of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), if untreated can be a risk of developing as colitis associated cancer. Numerous studies are underway to identify drugs that control both inflammation and cell proliferation. So, he is interested in identify some novel drugs from natural source and elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in the process of curing colitis associated cancer. He published several articles on the effects of natural agents in these areas of interest.