SYNERGY Award 2025 for Interdisciplinary Research Groups Profs. Dobrindt and Hensel
The synergistic effects involved in the action of natural products are key to their medicinal use. Research on these actions has been revolutionized in the past decades by methods that quantify synergy and by genomics techniques. The SYNERGY Award of the Society of Medicinal Plants and Natural Products aims to create awareness for research on these effects by awarding excellent research in the field.
The price for 2025 was awarded to a consortium from the University of Münster (Prof. Dr. U. Dobrindt and Prof. Dr. A. Hensel with PhD students S. Boertz and M. Dey) from the Institute of Hygiene and the Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology and Phytochemistry. The research consortium is part of the Graduate School of Natural Products (GS-NP) of University of Münster. The results of this study demonstrate that extracts obtained from mixtures of traditionally used medicinal plants have different phytochemical profiles than the combined extracts from the individual plants. Using complex, standardized formulations traditionally used for urinary tract infections, it was shown that the "combined" extract exhibits distinct functionality against uropathogenic Escherichia coli, the primary urinary tract pathogen, compared to the individual plant extracts. Additionally, it was found that these "combined" extracts stimulate human bladder cells to defend themselves, reducing their susceptibility to bacterial infection.
The international scientific jury for the SYNERGY Award recognized the innovative nature of the research, its interdisciplinary approach combining microbiology, cell biology, traditional medicine, and advanced phytochemical analysis, and its ability to translate basic science into practical medical applications. This translation is crucial for the rationalization of traditional medicine and the development of herbal medicinal products into modern, evidence-based drugs.
The SYNERGY Award was handed over during the opening ceremony of the annual conference of the Society of Medicinal Plants and Natural Products in Naples, Italy.