Coriolus 2

Bioanalytical Core

Turkey Tail Mushroom The Bioanalytical Core serves a four-fold function within the DCRC:

  1. Core facility for assessing levels of immunopotentiating bioactive components of Trametes versicolor (Tv) and in tissues and serum provided by the three Projects.
  2. Storage and distribution facility for the Tv extracts and control test compounds to all of the projects.
  3. Central facility for ß-glucan fractionation, enzymatic degradation, and labeling.
  4. Training facility to learn botanical bioanalysis.

The Core is located at the University of Minnesota and lead by Rory Remmel, PhD. Dr. Remmel oversees all analyses performed within the Core. The extracts are from Paul Stamets and Fungi Perfecti and chain of custody is maintained on all test products and stability is assessed at regular intervals. Gary Ostroff, PhD, an internationally recognized leader in ß-glucan research serves as a consultant working with the Bioanalytical Core to a) fractionate, isolate and purify ß-glucan fractions from complex Tv extracts; b) enzymatically degrade ß-glucans in Tv to create a test compound for use in Projects 1 and 2; and c) create a fluorescently labeled purified beta-glucan for use in biodistribution studies.

Leggi tutto

Coriolus 1

Administrative Core

Turkey Tail Mushroom The Administrative Core is essential to the success of the DCRC. The Core director, Dr. Joel Slaton (University of Minnesota), facilitates the functions of all projects and cores. Dr. Cindy Wenner (Bastyr University) is the Co-Director of the Administrative Core and co-chairs the Internal Steering Committee which meets monthly by teleconference to review the scientific progress and fiscal status. The Committee identifies problems and barriers and assures that all goals are met within realistic time and within budget constraints.

The Administrative Coordinator works closely with the Director and Co-Director to schedule meetings with investigators and to ensure optimum communication with administrative personnel. The Director holds meetings every 2 weeks with administrative personnel.  The External Advisory committee meets annually to evaluate the progress of the DCRC.

Leggi tutto

Coriolus

A major study of medicinal mushrooms by Cancer Research UK is the most comprehensive ever undertaken and was very positive.

The popular and wide spread use of medicinal mushrooms in Asia left the researchers wondering why we are not making better use of them in the West. They note, “The huge world wide sales of such products, can testify to the beliefs of many, of their efficacy.”

The Cancer Research UK team were impressed by “the remarkable ability of many of these non toxic compatible compounds to reduce the debilitating effects of traditional chemo-therapeutic drugs.’

Mushrooms have been treasured as remedies for disease and as natural health supports for thousands of years and are an incredibly popular food in most countries. Actually, world trade in mushrooms is as big as the trade in coffee.

Leggi tutto

funghi medicinali newsweek

MEDICINAL MUSHROOMS
Exploring their promise
By Sue Russell

Can mushrooms help fight high blood pressure, diabetes, and even cancer, HIV and AIDS? In Asia, the powerful healing properties of medicinal mushrooms have been recognized and sought out for several thousand years. In medieval Japan, the rare maitake (my-tah-key), a member of the ‘Monkey’s Bench’ family, was so highly prized it was worth its weight in silver. Now it is proving to be the most potent of the medicinal mushrooms and being studied closely by scientists in the US.

Maitake means Dancing Mushroom in Japanese. Folklore has it that the mushroom was so named because wildcrafters danced for joy when they found it. (Understandable, given that a single cluster can grow to 100 lbs.)

In folk medicine, the maitake (or Grifola frondosa) was credited with having near-miraculous healing properties. Other mushrooms such as the Reishi and the Shiitake have also been long revered and used to stimulate the immune system. The Shiitake, now a nouvelle cuisine staple, has a remedial history in China dating back to the Ming Dynasty but in traditional Chinese Medicine, the Reishi was considered the most effective medicinal mushroom.

Leggi tutto

Nutrition and Cancer

Nutrition &Cancer, January 2009 by Ben-Zion Zaidman, Solomon P. Wasser, Roumyana D. Petrova, Jamal Mahajna, Nesly Dotan

Summary:

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common male malignancy in many Western countries. Primary PCa is hormone dependent and is manageable by hormonal therapy. However, it rapidly develops to hormone-refractory tumors due to the accumulation of mutations in the androgen receptor and/or the acquisition of alternative cellular pathways that support proliferation and inhibit apoptosis of prostate cancer. To date, no effective therapy is available for clinically hormone-insensitive or hormone-refractory stages of prostate cancer.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Nutrition &Cancer is the property of Lawrence Erlbaum Associates and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder’s express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.

Leggi tutto