Phipps grant leads to medical venture
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When Cassandra Quave conducted field research in Italy to find plant extracts that could fight bacterial infections, she had a powerful motivation.
Born with serious birth defects, she underwent 20 surgeries, including an amputation.
"I lost my right leg when I was 3 years old. I got an infection. It nearly killed me. The staph infection got into the bone. So I have problems walking even today," the 33-year-old scientist said.
Now a post-doctoral fellow at Emory University in Atlanta, Ms. Quave patented an extract found in an elm leaf blackberry plant she gathered several years ago in Italy, a country with a tradition of using plants to treat wounds.
In May, a company she formed with a friend from Harvard Business School, called PhytoTEK, advanced to the final round of the Harvard Business School's Alumni New Venture Contest and placed in the top three of the global finals.
Ms. Quave's field research in Italy was funded by Botany in Action, a program at Phipps Conservatory in Oakland that provides young science fellows with $3,000 toward field research expenses and some training at Phipps.
"The financial support of Botany in Action funded two or three years of field study in Italy," she said. "They help young ethnobotanists to launch their careers."
Tonight, nine doctoral students will summarize their work for guests at Botany in Action's annual fundraising gala. The researchers arrived here earlier this week for intensive seminars on how to communicate their work to the public. The fellows are working in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Brazil, Thailand, India and Nepal.
Ms. Quave, whose name rhymes with "wave," is teaching a medical botany class at Emory. Her doctorate degree in biology is from Florida International University in Miami.
Bacterial infections, including MRSA -- a type of staph bacteria that is resistant to certain antibiotics -- throw up powerful force fields.
"I looked for things that could turn off that force field. The idea there is to combine a drug that disables the ability of the bacteria to defend themselves. Then your antibiotics can be more effective and you won't have to take them as long," the scientist said.
Ms. Quave hopes the extract she is trying to bring to market will one day be used to coat artificial implants or catheters before they are implanted.
"By coating the device, we could prevent bacteria from attaching to the device. Bacteria like to latch on to the artificial limb. That's why if you prevent them from attaching in the first place, it would give your immune system a chance to fight off the infection."
First Published October 1, 2011 12:00 am
