Iran opens first herb museum containing over 1,700 herb samples

Iran opens first herb museum containing over 1,700 herb samples

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Wed Jun 10, 2015 5:31PM

File photo shows workers collecting medicinal herbs in Iran's West Azarbaijan Province.

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Iran has inaugurated its first herb museum, also known has herbarium, containing more than 1,700 samples of various herbs.

According to Iranian media, the herbarium was inaugurated at the Shahid Beheshti University in capital city, Tehran, on Wednesday.

The opening ceremony was attended by top officials of the Shahid Beheshti University as well as deputy head of Iran's Tourism Bank for marketing.

According to the report, the herbarium which is affiliated to the Shahid Beheshti University’s Medicinal Plants and Drugs Research Institute, contains a valuable trove of over 1,700 herb samples.

The herbarium is internationally registered and specializes in Iran's medicinal plants. It will also develop a comprehensive bank of plant essences, extracts, and seeds in the near future.

Medicinal plant samples of the herbarium have been collected by a team of Iranian specialists and their extracts have been obtained using various solvents and different processes.

Iran has made great advances in various fields of medicine during the past three decades despite illegal sanctions imposed against the country on account of its peaceful nuclear program.

An official at the Iranian Ministry of Health announced in early May that the Islamic Republic has become a producer of some recombinant drugs, which were previously produced only by a number of developed countries, thus ending their monopoly in the field.

Akbar Abdollahi-Asl, Iranian Food and Drug Administration's deputy for supervision and planning, added that apart from the original producing country, Iran is now the only country capable of synthesizing the molecule of recombinant Factor VII, which is used to treat hemophiliacs.

Also on April 26, ISNA news agency reported that Iranian researchers have produced a nano-drug, which has proven effective in battling treatment-resistant cancers.

According to the report, the polymer-based nanocarrier was produced by the Cancer Research Center of Tehran University of Medical Sciences for the targeted release of the anti-cancer drug, curcumin.

Curcumin, which is found in the turmeric, has anti-cancer and cancer prevention properties apart from its anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, said Dr. Ali Mohammad Alizadeh from the Iran Nanotechnology Initiative Council.

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http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/06/10/415247/Shahid-Beheshti-University-herb-herbarium-museum