EU backs Mediterranean botanicals research project
The Botanicals Risk Assessment (BRAMA) project is being coordinated by Hylobates Consulting, which also runs the PlantLibra project investigating herbal product safety and benefits.
It is part of Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) within the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) Mediterranean Sea Basin Joint Operational Programme.
Project manager Dr Luca Bucchini said BRAMA will, “build up competences and professional skills of young researchers, technicians and inspectors in the field of botanicals.”
Partners activities will include:
· National Research Centre (NRC) of Egypt which will train two PhD students on state-of-the-art and novel methods in risk assessment practice of compounds with toxicological activity that can be present in botanicals.
· Alà Al-Subeihi of Aqaba International Laboratories in Jordan will train students in applied research for developing physiologically based kinetic (PBK) models for bioactivation and detoxification of selected substances found in PFS.
· University of Ioannina in Greece will perform phytochemical analysis of botanicals, the chemical structure elucidation of compounds of interest, and the development of methods using NMR spectroscopy.
Project associate Dr Jacques Vervoort of Wagenigen University in the Netherlands remarked that, “we need to improve the capacities of young people. That is what BRAMA is about.”
