TSMU researchers attended an international conference in Poland

During June 21-24, five Ternopil State Medical University researchers (Liudmyla Vronska, Maria Shanaida, Yulia Plaskonis, Anastasia Dub and Olesia Lynda) participated in the 5th International Conference and Workshop «Plant – the source of research material», taking place in Lublin, Poland.

The international conference was attended by more than 150 participants and lasted 4 days. The participants presented 12 plenary and 8 sectional reports, as well as more than 130 posters. The event took place in two Lublin universities – Medical University and Maria Curie-Skłodowska University with the assistance of Lublin Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Presenting at the conference were leading scientists from Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Belgium, Portugal, UK, Canada, Lithuania, and Ukraine. They discussed the latest findings and future directions of phytochemical and pharmacological studies of medicinal plants. During the plenary and breakout sessions were discussed the current problems of the analysis of primary and secondary metabolites of plants and using them to manufacture medically active ingredients. A number of reports concerned conserving rare species, studying molecular mechanisms that control biosynthesis of bioactive substances in plants, promising directions of chromatographic studies, and the studies of antimicrobial, antioxidant, sedating, narcotic and anti-inflammatory properties of plants.

TSMU researches presented 5 posters and had the opportunity to discuss their findings with other participants. They also learned about the best approaches in the field of medicinal plant research. They participated in a master-class “How to cope with difficult water solutions? – operation of useful modern equipment “, which was dedicated to the demonstration of basic functions of the latest model IKA vacuum rotary evaporator, used in research laboratories for drying off plant extracts.

Conference participants were invited on several field trips, in particular to the research laboratory of clinical genetics in Lublin Medical University, and teaching Botanic Garden of Maria Curie-Sklodowska University. The collections of this botanical garden contain more than 7,000 species of plants from different regions of the world, including hundreds of medicinal plants.