Nanotechnology in Herbal Medicine: Applications and Innovations

Sabu Thomas is a Professor and Director of the International and Interuniversity Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala, India. Professor Thomas is internationally recognized for his contributions to polymer science and engineering, with his research interests encompassing polymer nanocomposites, elastomers, polymer blends, interpenetrating polymer networks, polymer membranes, green composites, nanocomposites, nanomedicine, and green nanotechnology. His groundbreaking inventions in polymer nanocomposites, polymer blends, green bionanotechnology, and nano-biomedical sciences have significantly advanced the development of new materials for the automotive, space, housing, and biomedical fields.

Prof. Oyedeji is Professor of Organic Chemistry at Walter Sisulu University (WSU), Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, South Africa, where she teaches organic chemistry at both undergraduate and postgraduate level as well as leads a natural product research group. She obtained her Master’s degree in Polymer Chemistry from the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and her PhD degree in Organic Chemistry from University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Her work hinges on natural products chemistry with special interest in finding the medicinal values of terpenoids class of compounds in medicinal plants. Prof. Oyedeji is a recipient of several awards including TWAS (2003), NRF South Africa (2003-2004), National Research Foundation Rated Scientist (2010-2015 & 2016-2021), WSU Established Female Researcher (2017), WSU Vice Chancellor Awards for Excellence in Research (2017), Pre-commercialization innovation product developed (2019), Engagement through Professional/Discipline-based Service Provision (2019) and Engagement through Research and Scholarship (2019). She is a fellow of Chemical Society of Nigeria (CNS), member of Third World Organization for Women in Science (TWOWS), member of South African Chemical Institution (SACI) and Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). She is also an affiliated member of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).

Professor Oluwafemi is a fully-fledged academic that is involved in Teaching & Learning, Research, Community Engagement, staff and student mentorship among many other activities. His research interest is in the synthesis of binary, ternary and quaternary semiconductor nanomaterial and nanostructures such as quantum dots, metal nanomaterials, core-shells, doped nanostructures and polymer nanocomposites for different applications which includes biological, (basically for cancer treatment ie imaging, labelling, drug delivery photodynamic therapy and photothermal therapy), optical (development of optical devices), environmental (sensing and determination of environmental pollutants), nanotoxicology and water treatment. He is also involved in the indigenous knowledge system (IKS) for value added chain using different South African medicinal plants. This involves isolation, extraction, biological activity testing, and synthesis of nanomaterial using the plant extract and packaging for pharmaceutical purposes.

Rose Jaquilin PJ is currently pursuing her PhD degree at Walter Sisulu University, South Africa. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and a Master’s degree in Polymer Chemistry from Kerala University, Trivandrum, Kerala, India. She has nine years’ research experience at Syngene International Ltd, a leading pharmaceutical company in India. Her research areas include bio- and specialty-polymer synthesis, polymer grafting, hydrogel and dendrimer synthesis, controlled radical (ATRP, RAFT), anionic and cationic polymerization techniques. Her current research work includes synthesis and characterization of herbal nanomaterials for different applications.