Progress
January 2019 – The group have issued a call, with the support of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), for all IAP member academies to join its network aimed at protecting the molecular diversity needed for novel biomedical discoveries and development. This network aims to create an open, interdisciplinary, international collaborative platform for the exchange of data and knowledge on biodiversity. For details and on how to sign up to the initiative, please see the Call here.
Spring 2018 – The group is currently organising a Scientific Symposium on Biodiversity and Biomedicine: Sustainability for Human Health within the World Social Science Forum in September 2018 in Japan. See here for details.
The group is working on forming a network of research activities (finding new lead compounds from indigenous species) and establishing a library of compounds.
Outcomes
August 2020 – A policy paper by several group members on “Towards policies that capture the expected value of biomolecular diversity for drug discovery, human health, and well‑being” has been published in Biologia Futura in August 2020 (open access). In the paper, the authors argue that there exists an urgent need to over-come economic, disciplinary, national, cultural, and regional barriers, in order to work out innovative measures to create a sustainable future and prevent the mutual extinction of humans and other species. The paper aims to help policy-makers with a characterization of the intrinsic value of biodiversity and its role as a critical foundation for sustainable development, human health, and well-being.
July 2020 – Several group members contributed to a publication on “Biodiversity and Biomedicine: Our Future” (published by Elsevier; behind a paywall). GYA alumni and former group co-leads Dilfuza Egamberdieva (National University of Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan) and Milica Pesic (University of Belgrade, Serbia) co-edited the book with Munir Ozturk from Turkey. The book examines the diverse connections between conserving Earth’s biodiversity and human healthcare, and provides a new outlook on Earth’s animal, plant, and fungi species as vital sources for human health treatments. While there are over 10 million various species on the planet, only 2 million have been discovered and named. This book identifies modern ways to incorporate Earth’s species into biomedical practices and emphasizes the need for biodiversity conservation.
April 2019 -Group members have published a paper on medicinal plant extracts in Acta Naurae.
October 2018 – Group members have published a paper on “Sharing digitized DNA sequences must balance scientific progress with fair use“.
Summer 2018 -The group have published a promotional video of their work, filmed by Nerina Finetto/ Traces.Dreams.
January 2018 – The group’s first position statement on the ‘Conservation of Biodiversity: Protecting Molecular Diversity and Biomedical Discoveries‘ has been released.
December 2017 – Several members from the Biodiversity group have been involved in the publication of an article titled “Bio2Bio Consortium: Biodiversity, Drug Discovery, and the Future of Global Health – introducing the Biodiversity to Biomedicine Consortium, a Call to Action” in the Journal of Global Health.
