Research

Bangladesh has a rich tradition of plant-based medicine, but many remedies have never been tested under controlled conditions. The group extracts and screens indigenous species for antioxidant, hepatoprotective, antidiabetic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, cytotoxic and antimicrobial activity, then uses phytochemical profiling to connect each activity with specific constituents.

Species studied include Justicia gendarussa, Bridelia tomentosa, Citrus medica, Syzygium cymosum, Spondias pinnata, Marsdenia tenacissima, Catharanthus roseus, Basella alba and Eucalyptus camaldulensis.

Computational methods let the group ask questions that would be slow or costly to answer at the bench. Recent studies mapped where benzodiazepines bind on the GABAA receptor, compared how montelukast, zafirlukast and gemilukast bind CysLTR1, P2Y12 and PPAR-gamma, and predicted the chronic toxicity of antihypertensive combinations such as olmesartan medoxomil with hydrochlorothiazide.

The same tools screen natural products for antiviral leads, including compounds from Nigella sativa and breadfruit against SARS-CoV-2 targets, and support immunoinformatics work such as epitope-based vaccine design against dengue virus.

Reliable medicines depend on reliable measurement. The group develops and validates RP-HPLC and UV-spectrophotometric methods for active ingredients in bulk and dosage forms, including sitagliptin, saxagliptin, daclatasvir, tiemonium methylsulfate, ranitidine and calcium orotate.

Related studies compare the potency, dissolution and stability of commercial brands marketed in Bangladesh, an important check on product quality in a fast-growing pharmaceutical market.

Many of the group's PhD researchers are practising clinicians, which keeps the lab close to patients. Joint studies have looked at cost-effective oral hypoglycaemic agents for low-income patients with type 2 diabetes, pharmacist-led diabetes self-management, risk factors for knee osteoarthritis, thalassemia trait in pregnancy, vitamin D status in intensive care and periodontal disease in Dhaka.

The group also studies how people use medicines, including perceptions of complementary and alternative medicine among university students, and shares medicine-safety messages with the public through television and online health education.