Malaysia is well known for her wealth in biodiversity. With such gift, it is no doubt that the tropical forest of Malaysia is a host to a wide variety of flora that posses great medicinal values. Realizing that, much has been said to add value to our natural resources with a strong support from the government. With continuous encouragement, the research and development (R&D) of natural products have been growing with contribution from several active researchers. Two such individuals are Dr. Lim Yang Mooi and Dr. Anthony Ho Siong Hock of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Dr. Lim was very young when she developed the interest towards plants. “I used to help my grandmother to collect plants as she was involved in traditional Chinese treatment. In the process, curiosity came along which brought me to the journey of studying plants” said Dr. Lim. Therefore she started of the journey by dwelling in agricultural and cancer research. Dr. Lim graduated with an undergraduate degree and a PhD in biotechnology from Universiti Putra Malaysia.

Dr. Anthony sits in the same boat as Dr. Lim as he also works on isolation of natural products and how can they help in combating cancer. He graduated with a degree in human physiology from the University of British Columbia and was offered an opportunity by visiting scientists to work as a research assistant to isolate natural products based in Malaysia. He then graduated with a PhD in biotechnology from Universiti Putra Malaysia.

“We were looking at ways how phytochemicals can stop cancer progression” said Dr. Lim. According to her, biochemical signalling pathways in cancer patients are usually altered leading to deterioration of the body system and then death. Therefore their main focus of research was to use phytochemicals from plants mainly secondary metabolites to revert the signalling pathways back to their original mechanism thus slowing down or stopping the progress of cancer.

“There was no specific type of cancer studied in this research as we looked at the carcinogenesis as overall collaborating with Tung Shin Hospital” said Dr. Lim and added by saying that the research findings proved that the secondary metabolites were able to slow down the progress cancer.

“Nevertheless, the future seems to be challenging for the R&D of natural products. The question is what are natural products and how do we conquer the field?” asked Dr. Lim. Dr. Anthony added by saying that it all comes down to the amount of effort that is being put into the research by the key players who are the researchers reflecting their passion and interest in natural product studies. “Although there are a number of researchers involved in studies of natural products, there seems to be a communication gap between them. It is essential for them to exchange and share their thoughts and findings to learn how far we have progressed in the R&D of natural products” said Dr. Lim.

“Research on natural products could be very tedious, thus long hours have to be spent to study natural products” said Dr. Anthony. He said there are so many undiscovered species making it a long way before more isolation could be carried out. “With funding from various agencies and more active participation by local researchers, I hope the future of research on natural products becomes brighter” said Dr. Anthony.

“In near future, we hope to see more funding coming in as it will enable us to carry the research further” said Dr. Lim. She said it is also utmost important that the findings are commercialized due to their strong medicinal values. One such example would be the benefits of phytochemicals and how they can cure, prevent cancer and even prolong lives. Although their research findings proved that the phytochemicals mainly secondary metabolites are able to slow down cancer progress, they still look forward to take the research further hoping that their noble research can also be proven of having the capacity to stop cancer progress with the ability to save more lives.

“With rich resources and strength, I do not see the reason why R&D of natural products could not be taken to greater heights” said Dr. Anthony. Therefore Dr. Lim and Dr. Anthony hope to see more participation from the key players in the R&D of natural products.

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