MEDICINAL, AROMATIC AND POISONOUS PLANTS RESEARCH CENTER  (MAPPRC)

Laboratory Units Affiliated to the Center

Plants Taxonomy and Herbarium Unit

The main function of this unit is to collect plants from different regions of the Kingdom for identification and botanical classification. Each specimen is allotted a voucher number for future reference prior to keeping in the herbarium.

Phytochemistry Unit

It deals with the isolation and structure elucidation of the constituents of different plants using appropriate procedures including chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques.

Biology and Toxicology Unit

This unit is responsible for pharmacological and toxicological screening of various crude drugs and isolated constituents. A large number of experimental models were designed and standardized in this unit to potentiate the claims made by folk medicine practitioners. Toxicity studies are also conducted to ensure compliance with WHO norms.

Cancer Cell Unit

This unit performs in vitro studies on a number of cancer cell line cultures to determine the effectiveness of crude extracts, and isolated constituents against cancer.

Future Units

The proposed future development of this center includes immunology and genotoxicity unit and drug formulation