The Plant Hunter: The Potential of Medicinal Plants to Fight Superbugs - Livestream

Plants are the basis for an array of lifesaving and health-improving medicines we all now take for granted. Ever taken an aspirin? Thank a willow tree for that. Medicines for malaria? Some are derived from cinchona and wormwood.

In today’s world of synthetic pharmaceuticals, many people have lost this connection to the natural world. By ignoring the potential of medicinal plants, we lose out on the opportunity to discover new medicines needed in the fight against the greatest medical challenge of this century: the rise of the post-antibiotic era.

Join us for a virtual program at the San Mateo Public Library to hear scientist, professor, and author Dr. Cassandra Quave share stories of her quest to discover nature’s next medicines. Dr. Quave has explored the flooded forests of the Amazon, the rolling hills of Italy, isolated mountaintops in Albania and Kosovo, and isles arising out of the Mediterranean - all in search of natural compounds, long-known to traditional healers, that could help save us all from the looming crisis of untreatable superbugs.

Registration is required for this virtual event: https://sanmateopublic.libcal.com/event/9611534

This program is coordinated by the library's Biotechnology Learning Center.