Anja Schuster and her team at the Biomedical Analytics degree program have been researching the potential of tree bark extracts for cellular stress, wound healing and the treatment of skin diseases for several years. Since the beginning of 2024, 30 alpine plant species have also been investigated for their mode of action in the Interreg project NETTLE together with partners from the University of Bolzano and the University of Udine. Anja Schuster has now presented the initial results to a broad audience of more than 70 people as part of a lecture and workshop at the Salzburg Health Days.
The predominantly non-scientific audience was guided through the topic by Anja Schuster with a well-structured presentation. The audience was very interested, many people asked questions and at the end took a picture of the QR code to the project’s website to keep up to date with events. For many members of the audience, the results were surprising in that, for example, the very well-known marigold(Calendula officinalis) had performed much worse than expected in the research group’s experiments compared to the other plant species, considering its widespread use in phytotherapy. Even for doctors who have specialized in phytotherapy and have been working in the field for years, Anja Schuster’s lecture provided some new insights. In the subsequent workshop, many people sought to talk to the lecturer and were also able to learn about the (previously known) modes of action of the various plant species being studied in the NETTLE project from a special memory.
For all those who would like to learn more about the medicinal effects of native plants and their occurrence in the wild, we recommend 2 exciting excursions in the near future :
- Spring excursion to the Henndorf forest on April 5
- Herb hike on the Trattberg on June 6
Podcast recommendation
In the "Health Talk" podcast, Anja Schuster and Sissy Häsler Gunnarsdottir explain how bioactive extracts from the bark of native tree species could help to cure skin diseases such as acne, neurodermatitis or epidermolysis bullosa (butterfly disease) in the future." How tree bark extracts support the healing of diseases
