Medical Cannabis: From Pot to Molecules and Drug Development

When: Monday, Februray 25th

10AM-11:30AM

Where: Konover Auditorium 

 

About: 

Marijuana, Cannabis sativa, is one of the most effective medicinal plants in use for millennia by various civilizations, finding its way in and out of official pharmacopoeias. In Israel, C. sativa is undergoing a process of medicalization, whereby the development of high standard cannabis-based products for specific medicalindications is of high priority. C. sativa contains more than 600 different phytochemicals, present in different ratios and compositions in multiple diverse strains grown around the world. Yet, the specific beneficial compounds for medical use remain elusive. Our research is focused on identification of optimal compositions of cannabis-derived compounds to treat different medical indications. We found that both cannabinoids and terpenes are needed for optimal anti-inflammatory and cytotoxic activities related to several medical indications, including inflammatory bowel diseases, colon cancer and cutaneous T cell lymphoma. We havealso characterized the entourage effect in cannabis based on synergy between the molecules, and identified some of the genetic pathways affected by the synergistic combinations in human cell lines. Our research is paving the way towards development of new, medical-grade, C. sativa products by the industry, and may benefit cannabis medical use.

For more information, contact: Christine Strand at christine.strand@uconn.edu