Ebru Özdemir Nath
From
In residence at
Institute of Organic and Analytical Chemistry (ICOA) / CNRS, University of Orléans - FR
Host scientist
Emilie Destandau
BIOGRAPHY
Ebru Özdemir Nath graduated from the İstanbul University, Faculty of Pharmacy. She defended her PhD in Pharmaceutical Botany in 2016 at the İstanbul University, Faculty of Pharmacy. She did her master's and doctorate on ethnobotanical studies in different regions of Türkiye. She is working as an Assoc. Prof. in Altınbaş University. She is the head of the Department of Pharmacognosy & Pharmaceutical Botany and the director of the Natural Products R&D center. She conducts ethnobotanical studies on cosmetic and medicinal plants, then carries out activity studies. At the same time, she develops new cosmetic product formulations with the ethnobotanical knowledge of Anatolia in the Natural Products R&D center. Especially in recent years, she has published on ethnobotany, essential oil analysis of aromatic plants, clinical aromatherapy, cytotoxic studies of medicinal and cosmetic plants.
PROJECT
Chemical analysis of some plants used for cosmetic purposes in Turkish ethnobotanical studies and their in vitro physiological effects on human origin cell lines.
In terms of plant biodiversity, Türkiye is one of the richest countries in the world, with a high rate of endemism. 30% of the 10,500 plant species identified to date in Türkiye are endemic. This wealth results in a strong use of plants for medicinal or cosmetic purposes. Ethnobotanical research carried out in Türkiye made it possible to identify these traditional uses to collect certain kinds of plants widely used for cosmetic purposes by the local people to verify their identification, and store them in the herbarium of Altınbaş University, Faculty of Pharmacy (HERA). During this project, the identification of plants in the herbarium, their extraction, and various biological activity tests for cosmetic purposes as well as the measurement of their cytotoxicity on different skin cell lines will take place at the Natural Products R&D center, Altınbaş University. It is planned to use human dermal cells derived from human endothelial cells HuVeC, human keratinocytes HaCat, and mouse fibroblast cells L929 to evaluate the activity on both the epidermis and dermis of the skin due to the probability that the substance will penetrate. The effect of the different extracts on cell viability will thus be studied at several levels, to verify their level of toxicity but also their contribution to cell proliferation by inducing metabolic activity. The phytochemical composition of the most promising extracts will be studied at the Institute of Organic and Analytical Chemistry (ICOA) in Orléans. The laboratory is at the cutting edge of technology and has internationally renowned expertise in the analysis of natural substances for cosmetic use. The final objective of this study will thus be, based on traditional uses, but by explaining these uses through the analysis of the chemical composition of the extracts as well as the study of their activities on skin cells to develop new cosmetic active ingredients.