DUNWOODY, Ga.—Dr. Paulos Yohannes continues his collaborative work with Addis Ababa University (AAU) of Ethiopia on medicinal plants endemic to Ethiopia, his home country.
Several of the medicinal plant extracts obtained from Ethiopia have shown anticancer activity against cervical cancer in vitro. One of the plants being extensively studied is Commiphora sp. nov., which is a new species not yet known to the scientific community.
Yohannes and fellow researchers have successfully isolated twelve compounds from the plant, most of which exhibited activity on HeLa cells (cervical cancer cells). The compounds from this “new” plant have been characterized and fully elucidated their structures through spectroscopic methods. Yohannes added that four of the twelve compounds isolated from the plant are new compounds not found in scientific literature.
Paulos Yohannes, Ph.D.
Part of this work was presented to the scientific community attending the annual Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society (SERMACS) on October 24, 2024, in Atlanta.
Yohannes shared the following two poster presentations at the SERMACS event:
- In vitro anticancer activities of selected Ethiopian medicinal plants on HeLa cell lines.
Qiyue Mao, Zhenming (Jimmy) Du, Siming Wang, Wen Lu, Xiaoxiao Yang, Taame Gezae Seyoum, Ermias Dagne, Paulos Yohannes, Binghe Wang
- Novel tirucallane-type triterpenoids from the resin of a new species, Commiphora sp. nov.
Zhenming (Jimmy) Du, Siming Wang, Wen Lu, Qiyue Mao, Xiaoxiao Yang, Taame Gezae Seyoum, Ermias Dagne, Paulos Yohannes, Binghe Wang
In addition, Georgia State University’s Office of Technology Transfer and Commercialization recently submitted a provisional application to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPT) for the new “invention” regarding the "new" medicinal plant, Commiphora sp.nov.
The application submitted is on behalf of Drs. Binghe Wang, Regent’s Professor and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, Chemistry, Atlanta Campus; Ermias Dagne, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at Addis Ababa University; and Paulos Yohannes, Professor of Chemistry and Associate Dean of Research at Perimeter College.
“This research succeeded because of the hard work of the Mass Spectrometry and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy directors, postdoctoral associates, and graduate students at Addis Ababa University and Georgia State University,” Yohannes said.