Nanotechnology in Herbal Medicine

Prof. Sabu Thomas is a Professor of Polymer Science and Engineering and the Director of the School of Energy Materials at Mahatma Gandhi University, India. Additionally, he is the Chairman of the Trivandrum Engineering Science & Technology Research Park (TrEST Research Park) in Thiruvananthapuram, India. He is the founder director of the International and Inter-university Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at Mahatma Gandhi University and the former Vice-Chancellor of the same institution. Prof. Thomas is internationally recognized for his contributions to polymer science and engineering, with his research interests encompassing polymer nanocomposites, elastomers, polymer blends, interpenetrating polymer networks, polymer membranes, green composites, nanocomposites, nanomedicine, and green nanotechnology. His groundbreaking inventions in polymer nanocomposites, polymer blends, green bionanotechnology, and nano-biomedical sciences have significantly advanced the development of new materials for the automotive, space, housing, and biomedical fields. Dr. Thomas has been conferred with Honoris Causa (DSc) by the University of South Brittany, France. Prof. Oyedeji is Professor of Organic Chemistry at Walter Sisulu University (WSU), Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, South Africa, where she teaches organic chemistry at both undergraduate and postgraduate level as well as leads a natural product research group. She obtained her Master’s degree in Polymer Chemistry from the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and her PhD degree in Organic Chemistry from University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Her work hinges on natural products chemistry with special interest in finding the medicinal values of terpenoids class of compounds in medicinal plants. Prof. Oyedeji is a recipient of several awards including TWAS (2003), NRF South Africa (2003-2004), National Research Foundation Rated Scientist (2010-2015 & 2016-2021), WSU Established Female Researcher (2017), WSU Vice Chancellor Awards for Excellence in Research (2017), Pre-commercialization innovation product developed (2019), Engagement through Professional/Discipline-based Service Provision (2019) and Engagement through Research and Scholarship (2019). She is a fellow of Chemical Society of Nigeria (CNS), member of Third World Organization for Women in Science (TWOWS), member of South African Chemical Institution (SACI) and Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). She is also an affiliated member of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). Professor Oluwafemi is a fully-fledged academic that is involved in Teaching & Learning, Research, Community Engagement, staff and student mentorship among many other activities. His research interest is in the synthesis of binary, ternary and quaternary semiconductor nanomaterial and nanostructures such as quantum dots, metal nanomaterials, core-shells, doped nanostructures and polymer nanocomposites for different applications which includes biological, (basically for cancer treatment ie imaging, labelling, drug delivery photodynamic therapy and photothermal therapy), optical (development of optical devices), environmental (sensing and determination of environmental pollutants), nanotoxicology and water treatment. He is also involved in the indigenous knowledge system (IKS) for value added chain using different South African medicinal plants. This involves isolation, extraction, biological activity testing, and synthesis of nanomaterial using the plant extract and packaging for pharmaceutical purposes. Rose Jaquilin PJ is currently pursuing her PhD degree at Walter Sisulu University, South Africa. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and a Master’s degree in Polymer Chemistry from Kerala University, Trivandrum, Kerala, India. She has nine years’ research experience at Syngene International Ltd, a leading pharmaceutical company in India. Her research areas include bio- and specialty-polymer synthesis, polymer grafting, hydrogel and dendrimer synthesis, controlled radical (ATRP, RAFT), anionic and cationic polymerization techniques. Her current research work includes synthesis and characterization of herbal nanomaterials for different applications.

1. Nanotechnology in herbal medicine 2. Nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems for herbal medicine 3. Characterization of nanomaterials 4. A different encapsulation technique and its cellular uptake mechanism 5. Biosynthesis of nanoparticles using plant extract 6. Applications of nanoemulsions as drug delivery vehicle for phytoconstituents 7. Plant extracts: Antioxidant and antimicrobial properties and their effect of nanoencapsulation 8. Nanoherbal gel formulations and delivery strategies 9. Synthesis and characterization of nanoherbal formulations for topical wound healing applications 10. Recent advances in herb-synthesized nanoparticles for viral diseases 11. Application of phyto-nanomedicine for the treatment of different disease conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disorders 12. Phyto nanomedicine for cancer therapy 13. Lipid-based nanostructures for the delivery of herbal antimicrobials 14. Nanostructured liquid-crystalline systems containing natural compounds 15. Dendrimer: A new carrier for herbal medicine 16. Metal and carbon nanocarriers for potential delivery of plant active ingredients 17. Cosmetic applications of herbal products and encapsulated herbal active formulations 18. Nonencapsulated plant essential oils as a shelf-life enhancer for herbal raw materials 19. Nanoherbal medicine: Challenges and future perspectives