Biodiversity for Survival via Biomedicine (Bio2Bio)

Aims and Objectives

This GYA Working Group focuses on biodiversity conservation from a biomedical perspective. The aims are to preserve knowledge about the medicinal properties of different species, create a global knowledge hub for biodiversity and biomedicine, and develop new pharmaceuticals from nature while protecting biodiversity.

The loss of biodiversity minimises the potential for harvesting new medicines and for future medical discoveries. This is due to the interdependence of sustainability of the environment, human wellbeing, and the development of new public health practices. The actions of our group will mobilise the skills and expertise within the GYA to address this issue. In addition, the Bio2Bio incubator group aims to create practical recommendations for the sustainable use of Earth’s finite natural resources for healing purposes and requests the support from policymakers. With the expanding loss of biodiversity, we must act now to avoid losing new solutions for human-focused problems.

Contact

Milica Pešić

pesicmilica7@gmail.com

Alexander Kagansky

kagasha@yahoo.com

Progress

Summer 2018 -The group have published a promotional video of their work, filmed by Nerina Finetto/ Traces.Dreams.

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.

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.

The group is working on forming a network of research activities (finding new lead compounds from indigenous species) and establishing a library of compounds.