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On Feb 21st, 2007, fifteen young researchers originating from the five continents received fellowships from UNESCO-L'Oréal 2007 for Women in Science. This award created in 2000 has already helped a lot of women to pursue their research.
Huge surprise this year : a postdoctoral researcher from Chile, working at Leuven universityt in Belgium, Nancy Chandia, receive a fellowship. |
Her subject : " Evaluate pharmacological properties of a South American plant (Stevia rebaudiana) containing a compound used as a natural sweetener " as written on the UNESCO portal.
We wish her a lot of success in her research..
You will find all the article on the following link :
http://portal.unesco.org/
Hereafter, you may have a look to Nancy Chandia's work description as proposed on L'Oréal website :
« Project: Synthesis and biological evaluation of the glucuronide of the natural sweetner Steviol
Nancy CHANDIA, 32, PhD in Chemistry, is a postdoctoral researcher at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, where she is working on the synthesis and purification of organic compounds.
During her fellowship, she will assess the pharmacological properties of a natural compound originating from a South American plant (Stevia rebaudiana) which is widely used as a natural sweetener. As well as having enormous potential for use in the food industry, the sweetening compound is also thought to be active against hypertension, hyperglycaemia and human rotavirus (responsible for gastro-enteritis), and to have antioxidant properties.
Because the sweetening compound itself is not metabolized in the human digestive tract, the precise identity of the component demonstrating these beneficial pharmacological properties is still unclear. However, there is one metabolic product of the sweetener that can be detected in human waste products after consumption of the sweetener. This product may hold the secret to the compound’s pharmacological action, according to Professor Jan Geuns of the Catholic University of Leuven.
Nancy Chandia will synthesize this metabolic product (steviol -glucuronide) using the sweetening compound as a starting point, but because relatively large amounts of steviol -glucuronide will be necessary for further testing, one important aspect of her project will be to find ways to optimize this synthetic procedure.
Once the purified compound has been produced in sufficient quantities, tests will be performed by another research team working in collaboration with her to screen the compound for beneficial effects on human health.
On return to Chile, Nancy Chandia hopes to apply the expertise acquired in Belgium to the synthesis of potentially biologically active compounds from Chiles diverse natural resources, such as carbohydrates from seaweed, for pharmacological purposes and thus contribute to the country's economic development.
Host institution: Laboratory for Molecular Design and Synthesis, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium » |
