Dr. Phan Chia Wei
Senior Lecturer, Department of Pharmaceutical Life Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Malaya, MalaysiaHead of Clinical Investigation Centre (CIC), University Malaya Medical Centre, Malaysia
Speech Title: Mushrooms as functional ingredients for drugs and nutraceutical: Pharmacological basis and clinical considerations
Abstract: Mushrooms from the kingdom fungi have been integrated into the human diet for centuries and serve as ingredients for alternative medicine for the prevention and treatment of various diseases. Mushrooms represent a class of functional food due to their wide spectrum of pharmacological properties. Their bioactive components can be extracted or concentrated as nutraceuticals. Novel compounds isolated from mushrooms' fruiting bodies or mycelium are collectively known as myco-constituents. Most of the myco-constituents have antitumor and immunomodulatory effects and most have proceeded successfully through clinical trials and are used as drugs to treat cancer and chronic diseases. The current presentation discusses the present status and future prospects of new avenues to translate the preclinical studies of mushrooms into translational medicine. The use of mushrooms for developing functional foods, drugs, and nutraceuticals will be discussed.
Biography: Dr Phan Chia Wei is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Pharmaceutical Life Sciences in Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Malaya, Malaysia; as well as the Head of Clinical Investigation Centre (CIC) in University Malaya Medical Centre. Dr Phan is a trained Microbiologist and has been involved in teaching Microbiology, Immunology, Pharmacology, Biotechnology, Good Clinical Practice, and Research Methodology; both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Dr Phan’s research interest involves natural products from higher fungi (mushrooms) as well as on the mechanisms of action and pharmacological complications of neurodegenerative and inflammatory diseases. Collectively, his various projects have resulted in more than 40 original ISI publications and several chapters in books. Dr Phan is also actively involved in various international and national bodies like the Young Scientists Network-Academy of Sciences Malaysia (YSN-ASM) and Asian Federation of Biotechnology (AFOB). Most recently, Dr Phan is listed in the Universiti Malaya Top 80 Researchers (2019) and Stanford list of Top 2% Scientists (2019) [Subfield: Complementary and alternative medicine, biotechnology, and clinical medicine]. Dr Phan is the recipient of three medals (2 bronze and 1 silver) in teaching and learning related competitions. Dr Phan has an ISI H-index of 16. He has a total of 7 Masters students (5 on-going and 2 completed), and 3 currently on-going PhD students.