Medicinal plants represent a unique pool of chemically-diverse molecules (phytochemicals) that have evolved to interact with biological targets. Many plant extracts and phytochemicals with potentially useful applications remain to be discovered. There has been a growing interest over the past few decades in using natural ingredients for skincare and haircare.

This project aims to investigate the activity of selected medicinal plants to identify phytochemicals that could serve as new immunomodulatory agents with cosmeceutical applications. The study will use a combination of approaches to discover active plant extracts/constituents. It will involve the use of

• in vitro screening assays to investigate the immunological activity of plant extracts/compounds
• phytochemical analysis to purify and identify active compounds
• in silico methods (molecular docking, molecular dynamics, network pharmacology) to predict the molecular interactions of bioactive phytochemicals with relevant protein targets linked to skin and/or scalp disorders