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Rising P2 students David Wang and Lun Nuam are working on two projects with Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences Katie Edwards, reviewing antioxidant capacity and protection in invasive plant samples and root teas.

“My lab has developed a whole panel of metabolic assays that look at antioxidant production and how energy is diverted throughout the body at the cellular level, and this research complements that work well,” Edwards said. “Having Lun and David involved in the research allows us to really expand our capacities. We're focusing on teas and plant extracts now, but these same metabolic panels can be applied to drugs going forward, so this won't be the end of this research angle, either.”

Wang’s study focuses on antioxidant levels and medicinal properties extracted from invasive plant species like Japanese knotweed, using special extraction techniques to find out what parts of the plants are going to give the most metabolically in terms of antioxidant production.

“We're focusing on turning something bad into something good,” he said. “These invasive plants can destroy our environment, overtake the natural ecosystem, and take the resources, so we want to repurpose them for cancer prevention, diabetes prevention, or even just general health.”

From the consumer end, Nuam’s project will show how much antioxidants individuals get in their tea, and how they can grow their tea best to make sure they get the most benefit. They’re trying to understand what the tea is doing for consumers at the biochemical level and if drinking tea every day could reduce different oxidative stress-related diseases.

Nuam shared that the impetus for this project was partly personal and partly academic: She noticed how her grandfather, who drinks tea every day, had no underlying chronic diseases, though her grandmother, who doesn’t like or drink tea, does. The difference was so stark that she wondered if it could be involved.

“In my country, we drink a bunch of tea, but we don't know if they're really going to be helpful or not,” she said. “This research is a chance to test the data, and maybe a chance to help someone. I'm also really excited about getting experience in a wet lab. This summer research has helped me get the big picture of what research can look like, and it's such a privilege.”

Wang, who is interested in drug compounding and drug development, and Nuam, interested in industry pharmacy, both added that the opportunity to gain lab knowledge is integral to their future careers.

Both students also added how they relish the opportunity to implement what they learn in the classroom directly on a full-time schedule, and to work with a mentor like Edwards, who served as their professor in their P1 years.

“Summer research is a great opportunity to connect with students who are learning in the pharmacy program to apply research. They learn about pharmaceutics in a theoretical sense in a lecture, and now they’re learning how to do it,” Edwards said. "I enjoy working with motivated students that are here because they want to be. This will benefit them academically as they go on, and with industry and placement residency opportunities.”