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Guest Lecture Series 07: Ira Sigar, Ph.D (Midwestern University, Illinois)

Increasing public health standards echo the “back to nature” paradigm. Research related to the use of medicinal plants to prevent and treat various diseases is routinely reviewed by various universities and related research institutions in line with the increasing public needs. The relatively similar aspect of the study of plant studies for human health is expected to provide a new perspective for similar studies in the field of plant health. The Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, IPB took advantage of this opportunity by holding a guest lecture from foreign lecturers (Guest Lecture) Series 07 with the theme "Potentials of Medicinal Plants for Disease Prevention and Cure" (23/9).

Ira Sigar, Ph.D a microbiologist from Midwestern University, Illinois - United States said that the focus of his research is to find active ingredients from plants that play a role in overcoming health problems and can be developed further. Plants that are getting a lot of attention are graviola or soursop (Annona muricata) which contain several phytochemicals, including annonaceous acetogenin (AGE) which has been proven in vitro to have antimicrobial activity and anti-cancer properties. In addition to the preventive mechanism, there is a 'disruption' mechanism which is stimulated by the active compound of graviola to interfere with the signaling system of the pathogen to the point of penetration and other points of the infection process. This study needs a higher level of depth because the response of each pathogenic bacteria such as Pseudomonas and Klebsiella will be different to this disruptive activity which of course will cause different potential resistance. The expert from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology also stated that industrialization of the results of this kind of research requires a very long time by not neglecting the holistic aspects including optimization of concentrations and effective doses to suppress disease but also not disturbing the population and activities of the normal flora that exist in the human body.

“The same approach to technology developed by Ira Sigar, Ph.D can also be used by researchers in the field of plant health who struggle with various types of pathogens, including bacteria and fungi”, said Dr. Giyanto, a plant bacteriologist who moderated this guest lecture. Although it is part of the Plant Resistance to Plant Diseases course (FIT 722) from the Phytopathology Study Program of IPB, this guest lecture is also of interest to students from other study programs at IPB and outside IPB, as well as researchers at various research institutions. The Plant Protection Department will again hold the next series of guest lectures to enrich the lecture material in the odd semester of T.A. 2021/2022.

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