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About Us

The Natural Products Institute of the University of the West Indies, Mona, (NPI), a dedicated research facility within the Faculty of Science and Technology was established in April 1999.

We are a dynamic team of senior research fellows, scientific officers, and creative thinkers. Our researchers evaluate the biological activity of Caribbean natural resources, including plants and fungi (pharmacognosy); as well as the patterns of traditional knowledge held by local communities across Jamaica and the Caribbean about these natural resources and their ecosystems (ethnobotany and ethnobiology).

Faculty members at the Natural Products Institute have broad expertise that includes natural product chemistry, pharmacology, computational biochemistry, insect vectors of human diseases, medicinal plant product development, and ethnobotany and ethnobiology.  Some of our projects include the evaluation of potential drug-herb interactions, Aedes mosquito control, ethnobiology of Jamaican root tonics, conservation assessment of endemic Jamaican plants, and the anti-cancer properties of various plants. We use computational modeling and advanced lab technology to assist with this work.

Within the last 23 years, we have achieved many milestones. Our scientists have received several awards such as the Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Award for Scientific Excellence; Bronze Musgrave Medal for Natural Products Research, the Elsevier Early Career Woman Scientist in Chemical Sciences for the Caribbean and Latin America region, and many more. We have also done significant work for our community, such as hosting a “Mini Scientist Day Camp” for Jamaican children at the primary and early secondary level; hosting the joint international conference of the Society for Economic Botany (SEB) and the International Society of Ethnobiology (ISE), among many others.
Our scientists also work in partnership with Field Trips Health in their newly renovated and outfitted laboratory on the Mona campus, where we conduct research on psilocybin mushrooms and their therapeutic effects. This is one of the first and few labs of its kind in the world.

We are excited about the work being done at the Natural Products Institute and will continue to excel as a collective within the Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the West Indies Mona. We thrive on collaborative research and do so with multiple collaborators on campus, locally, in the Caribbean region, and overseas in the United States, Europe, and Latin America.
 
Mission: 
To engage in collaborative, scientific research on Jamaican and Caribbean natural products, natural resources, and associated traditional knowledge.
Vision:
To unleash the full potential of the natural world for the welfare of the country and the region.

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