Presentation summary

My research centers on two main themes. One is the cultivation of medicinal plants, which I began through my involvement in a university botanical garden. The other is the exploration of bioactive compounds from natural sources, a project I have continued since my undergraduate studies.

In the latter, plant materials are extractedusing organic solvents, and the resulting crude extracts are subjected to various chromatographic techniques to separate compounds based on polarity and molecular weight. Highly purified single compounds are then isolated and structurally characterized using spectroscopic and analytical methods such as mass spectrometry (MS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and X-ray crystallography.

The plant sources studied include a wide range of species, such as those native to the unique ecosystems of Okinawan islands, Madagascar, and Thailand, as well as medicinal herbs used in Kampo, the traditional Japanese medicine system.

I will present research findings in which we used medicinal herbs listed in the “superior class（上品）” of the Shennong Bencao Jing as study materials. Their functional properties were evaluated using Caenorhabditis elegans as a bioassay model.