Do we need a new approach to antibiotic discovery?

New Podcast Interview:

Cassandra Quave Thinks the Way Antibiotics Are Developed Might Kill Us

"By mid-century, 10 million people a year are projected to die from untreatable infections. Can Cassandra, an ethnobotanist at Emory University convince Steve that herbs and ancient healing are key to our medical future?"

It was a real pleasure to speak with Steve Levitt on Freakonomics Radio! We took a deep dive into the history of antibiotics discovery and explored how traditional knowledge of medicinal plants could serve as the key to finding new, lifesaving medicines. You can catch the full episode and transcript of the interview here.

What I'm reading: A new scientific platform for identifying bioactive compounds from nature

This week, the Quave Research Group read a fantastic new paper from the NP Analyst team: NP Analyst: An Open Online Platform for Compound Activity Mapping

This open access online platform will provide a new way for natural products teams to map biological activities of natural products mixtures to the chemical profiles (mass spectrometry data) of those mixtures. We're eager to try this tool out in the Quave Lab and apply it to some of our existing data sets on plants with antimicrobial properties! You can follow the Natural Products Atlas team on Twitter or check out the tool on the platform website.

Have you ever wondered why plants make medicinal compounds?

If you’ve ever gone on a walk with a botanist, you might note that they use different senses – sight, touch, and smell in the identification process. Smell and taste can yield big clues as to the chemical makeup of plants found in certain groups. Plants make compounds known as primary and secondary metabolites. In this short educational video [6.5 minutes] "Plant Secondary Metabolism: Role in Chemical Ecology", I examine the role of secondary metabolites in chemical ecology, before diving into how these compounds can be leveraged for use in human medicine in later lessons.

New on Foodie Pharmacology:

Wild Waters with Susanne Masters

Have you spent much time exploring the water? Whether by swimming, kayaking, or hiking along the edges of aquatic habitats—there is always something interesting to see… and sometimes even tasty to eat! On this episode I speak with Susanne Masters, author of the new book Wild Waters: A wildlife and water lover’s companion to the aquatic world. We discuss curious creatures like eels, anemones, kelp and water mint and explore their history and present roll in the culinary traditions of Britain and Ireland. You can buy the book here!

Have you been reading THE PLANT HUNTER? If you love the book, please help me get the word out! Consumer reviews are greatly needed on Amazon, Audible, Barnes and Noble, Good Reads and more. Thank you!

Support your local indie booksellers! You can find retailers in your area at Bookshop.org

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Dr. Cassandra Quave
2107 N. Decatur Rd., #218
Decatur, GA 30033-5305