– PORTFOLIO –
Better Living Through Plant Sciences
Some of the College’s most innovative research is done in the
field of plant sciences. Through collaborations with students, the
New York Botanical Gardens, and other labs and scientists, much
of Lehman’s botanical research is focused on improving the lives
of humans.
Lehman Biological Sciences Professor Edward Kennelly and his
team are the first to develop a cutting-edge method for detecting
the presence of black cohosh—a perennial plant indigenous to the
United States—in botanical dietary supplements. Kennelly, who
works with students in the Ph.D. program in plant sciences and
biochemistry at the CUNY Graduate Center, as well as with the
New York Botanical Garden and the Columbia University College
of Physicians and Surgeons, conducts much of his research in
Lehman’s Phytochemistry Laboratory. According to Kennelly, as
much as one-third of products that claim to have black cohosh
do not have any traces of it. “This is a public health and consumer
fraud issue,” said Kennelly, who received a Fulbright Scholarship in
2014 to research traditional Chinese medicine.
Professor Renuka Sankaran is another Lehman scientist using
her interest in plants to also make life better—and safer—for
people. She currently has a grant from the University of Montana
to conduct research into how natural contaminants such as
cadmium, a toxic heavy metal, are transferred into the food chain.
Working alongside collaborators from Mexico and Johns Hopkins
University—and in conjunction with the New York Botanical
Garden—her goal she says is “to improve the safety of crops
such as wheat and rice by reducing cadmium accumulation while
simultaneously improving the nutritional quality of these foods.”
Ultimately, Sankaran hopes her research can “address key
malnutrition problems around the world.” A noble goal indeed.
Renuka Sankaran
Lehman Today/Spring 2015
15