GRANTS
Dr Mark Kimani carrying out concentration of crude extracts from Teclea nobilis using a rotary evaporator at the University of Embu.
mammals and therefore reducing the spread of diseases. Throughout Africa, vultures declined rapidly during the last decades with some populations showing decreases of over 90% within three generations, and are now at the brink of extinction. The goal of this project is to assess the threats to vultures in Côte d’Ivoire by determining the importance of their exploitation for traditional medicine. We will assess the abundance of the trade in vultures or parts of vultures in markets of larger cities and identify the trade circuit and its actors, evaluate the poaching pressure generated by the demand for vultures in traditional medicine, evaluate the socio-economic value of poached vultures and potential international trade affecting the Ivorian bird diversity, and identify the role of vultures in different ethnic groups in Côte d’Ivoire. The results should help in implementing a vulture conservation strategy that takes aspects of local cultures into account.
20 *** IFS ANNUAL REPORT 2021
Ms Elodie Gisèle Anoumedem Mouafo performing the isolation of fungal compounds.
DR BUDDHA BASNET, NEPAL Bioprospecting, extraction, screening, isolation and characterization of novel antibiotics from endolichenic fungi isolated from lichen of Butwal-Basantapur trekking trail area of Nepal Lichens have been used for numerous purposes such as dyes, perfumes and cosmetics, including folk medicine. Well-known examples include Usnea dillenius which was used for curing diseases of the scalp and treating sore eyes. Similarly, Usnea subfloridana and Parmelia omphalodes are used as a lotion and anti-inflammation for cuts and burns. It is believed that these important properties of lichen are because of the compounds biosynthesized by them, as conglomerates of fungi and algae. More than 150 compounds have been isolated from the fungal partner of lichen, indicating endolichenic fungi as a propitious source of bioactive compounds against microbes. The emergence of multidrugresistant bugs makes urgent the discovery, development and commercialization
of new drugs. This project will explore the Nepalese endolichenic fungi for isolating the novel structures with novel antimicrobial from the Nepalese lichen flora. The compounds isolated might form baseline research for the discovery and development of antibiotics to treat superbugs. MS ELODIE GISELE ANOUMEDEM MOUAFO, CAMEROON Search for antibacterial secondary metabolites from endophytic fungi associated with the Cameroonian medicinal plant Garcinia lucida Infectious diseases remain a public health concern in Africa due to antimicrobial resistance. For several years, chemists and biologists have used plants in the search for effective antibiotics resulting in an upswing in the study of plants, and a considerable decrease in the discovery of new leads. Several studies have proven endophytic fungi to be an alternative source for the discovery of new antibacterial compounds.
