#  Global Health, Biodiversity, and New Medicines. University of Costa Rica in San José, Costa Rica. August 20, 2024.  

 



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#### [Seminar Summary Report](/file_url/144)

**Opening remarks**

María Laura Arias Echandi MSc Vicerrectora de Investigación de la Universidad de Costa Rica

Dr. Luis Esteban Hernández Decano de la Facultad de Farmacia de la Universidad de Costa Rica

Prof. Donald Pfister, former director of the Harvard Herbarium and curator of the Farlow Library and Herbarium. Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences

[Veronica Vargas, Ph.D. Research Associate, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences](/file_url/141)

**Intellectual Property**

**The current state of Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) for genetic resources in Latin America**

*Dr. Jorge Cabrera Medaglia, Professor at the University of Costa Ric*a.

**Finding New Natural Products for Diseases**

**MEDINA Foundation pioneering work in natural-products-based drug discovery for neglected diseases**

*Dr. Olga Genilloud, Scientific Director MEDINA Foundation, Spain*

**CST Phytochemicals in cancer prevention**

*Dr. Omer Kucuk, Emory University, United States*

[**National Cancer Institute’s Program for Natural Product Discovery**](/file_url/133)

*Dr. Tanja Grkovic, Staff Scientist at Natural Products Branch, DTP, National Cancer Institute, USA*

[**Screening for novel therapeutics for treating dementia**](/file_url/134)

*Dr. Antonio Currais, Staff Scientist, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, USA*

[**The quest for natural products with antitrypanosomal and anticancer potential using computational biology and chemistry**](/file_url/135)

*Dr. Miguel Angel Chavez, Computational Biology and Chemistry, Universidad Catolica de Santa Maria Peru*

[**Understanding and harnessing the diversity of plant chemistry and metabolism**](/file_url/136)

*Dr. Ryan Nett, Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University*

**Funding Opportunities**

[**Funding opportunities for natural products research**](/file_url/137)

*Flora N. Katz, Ph.D. Director, Division of International Training and Research Fogarty International Center, National Institute of Health, USA*

**Large extract banks and local capacities**

Natural Products-based Bioprospecting Program at INDICASAT: Tackling the Panamanian Biodiversity Hotspot for Drug Discovery

*Dr. Marcelino Gutiérrez – INDICASAT Center for Biodiversity and Drug Discovery*

[Basic of barcodes and their uses](/file_url/143)

*Dr. Matthew E. Smith, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida*

**Natural product supplements**

[**Exploiting the plant Quillaja saponaria as a source of therapeutic compounds - industrial production**](/file_url/138)

*Gaston Salinas, CEO of Botanical Solutio*

[**Exploring Costa Rica’s potential for novel drug development**](/file_url/139)

*MSc. Gustavo Carazo Berrocal, Director of the Industrial Department, Pharmacy Faculty, University of Costa Rica*

[**Validating the Bioactivity of Panama's 'Desbaratadora': In Vitro Approaches**](/file_url/142)

*Dr. Carmenza Spadafora, Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology of Diseases (CBCMe), Panamá*

[**Using natural extracts in the fight against COVID-19 and its sequelae**](/file_url/140)

*Dr. Tamara Rubilar, Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco, Argentina*

**Herbal medicines from the Araucania Region: an opportunity for Human and Societal well-being**

*Dr. Pamela Leal-Rojas and Dr. Adinson Altamirano, Department of Natural Resources, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of La Frontera, Chile*

**Closing remarks**

German Madrigal, Director, Department of Pharmacy, University of Costa Rica Dra.

Giselle Tamayo, Director, Center for Research of Natural Products