Nations to attend ASU-hosted international conference on medicinally active plants, May 22-25
Arkansas State University will be the global setting for speakers from around the world as ASU will host the third annual international conference of the American Council for Medicinally Active Plants (ACMAP), Tuesday-Friday, May 22-25. The conference, the first ever hosted by ASU, will be held in the Carl R. Reng Student Union.
Conference organizer Dr. Fabricio Medina-Bolivar, associate professor of Plant Metabolic Engineering at ASU and vice-president of ACMAP, said that 19 nations as well as 22 states across the United States have already confirmed their participation in the conference. The countries include Bangladesh, Brazil, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Spain, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and USA.
States sending representatives include Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, George, Kentucky, Iowa, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming.
“We are very proud to host this conference,” said Dr. Medina-Bolivar. “In the future, it will be held in Washington, D.C., or perhaps in another country. However, our faculty and programs are so solid and strong, we are extremely fortunate to bring the conference to ASU and Jonesboro. We cannot imagine another event in this area of Arkansas that would involve so much diversity in both languages and individuals than this conference.
“We have put together an outstanding scientific program with 62 talks and 65 poster presentations. The overall theme of the conference is on ‘Plants and Human Health.’”
Dr. Medina-Bolivar went on to say that the conference includes topics on plant natural products as therapeutic agents and cancer prevention, plant biotechnology for the production of bioactive natural products, structure modification of medicinally active compounds, ethnobotany and propagation and conservation of medicinal plants.
Following an ACMAP Board of Directors Meeting and reception Tuesday evening (May 22), conference participants will tour the Arkansas Biosciences Institute (ABI) building. The conference gets underway Wednesday, May 23, at 7:30 a.m. in the Student Union (Auditorium and Centennial Hall) with registration, setup and welcome by Jonesboro Mayor Harold Perrin, ASU Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Dr. Dan Howard and ACMAP president Agnes Rimando. Dr. Tim Hudson, Chancellor, will address the group Thursday.
Conference participants will make topics for the conference and keynote presentations over the three-day period. At the conclusion of the conference, participants will have an opportunity to travel to Memphis for a tour of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
ACMAP was developed for the express purpose to promote and foster research, development, production and conservation of medicinal, aromatic and other bioactivity plans useful to human health.
For additional information, contact Dr. Medina-Bolivar at (870) 680-4319.
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