Bush medicine project

The Bush Medicine Project is a cross-course multidisciplinary research project aimed at discovering medicinal compounds in indigenous Australian plants. The project is guided by indigenous Australian traditional medicine and is run in collaboration with the Aboriginal Education Centre.

Second- and third-year level science students at Federation University Australia participate in the project within their prescribed courses. Australian flora students (SCENV2100) collect, identify, map and preserve plants of interest. Medicinal chemistry students (SCCHM3001) will prepare plant extracts, create a chemical fingerprint and initially screen the plant material for activity. Clinical microbiology (SCMIC3003) and pharmacology and toxicology students (SCMED3010) then screen the plant extracts for antimicrobial activity and toxicity. Students can also elect to participate further through a third-year research project (SCCOR3001) to perform more detailed studies on the extracts that have shown activity.