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Pharmacognosy Lab
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A lab that studies allelopathy and the breeding of medicinal plants, using living plants as its subject.
AboutAbout the lab
Exploring the properties of medicinal plants by working with living plants.
The Pharmacognosy Lab conducts research on living plants and is distinctive in pursuing research that is close to biology.
The lab studies allelopathy and its mechanism of action at the molecular level, and works on breeding methods for medicinal plants using plant cell and tissue culture, and on establishing analytical methods for secondary metabolites.
Through this basic research, the lab plans to develop elite cultivars of medicinal plants.
Lab members learn some of the following techniques and knowledge: cultivation and culture of medicinal plants, gene cloning, and antibody production.
Key terms
- Allelopathy
- The effect by which one plant inhibits the growth of other plants
- Secondary metabolites
- Unique compounds produced by plants. The cannabinoids of cannabis are one example
- Crude drugs (shoyaku)
- The raw materials of Kampo medicines. A Kampo medicine is composed of multiple crude drugs containing many components
NewsLab news
Research on a miniaturized anti-glycyrrhizin antibody accepted by Innovations in Acupuncture and Medicine
Associate Professor Seiichi Sakamoto receives the Academic Contribution Award from the Japanese Society of Pharmacognosy
Press release on research results for a detection system for soy isoflavone glycosides
Undergraduate student receives an Excellent Presentation Award (Oral Presentation category) at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Medical and Pharmaceutical Society for WAKAN-YAKU
Joint research with Chiang Mai University accepted by Scientific Reports
ResearchResearch themes
This lab pursues research close to biology, using living plants as its subject. Its work rests on three pillars: research on cannabis, breeding of medicinal plants, and the establishment of analytical methods for secondary metabolites.
*Illustrative imageCompounds produced by cannabis and allelopathy
The lab studies the cannabinoids produced by Cannabis sativa and has succeeded in purifying the biosynthetic enzymes for THCA, CBDA, and CBCA and cloning their genes. It has also identified cannabinoids as the active substances behind allelopathy, the inhibition of the growth of other plants, and is investigating the mechanism.
*Illustrative imageBreeding medicinal plants that can be supplied stably
Most raw crude drug materials depend on imports, and the prices of some crude drugs soar because of export restrictions. The lab therefore combines plant tissue culture techniques with new elicitors, aiming to create lines of ginseng, peony, bupleurum, and other plants that produce large amounts of useful secondary metabolites and can be supplied stably.
*Illustrative imageAnalytical methods for measuring the quality of crude drugs
The quality of the crude drugs used as raw materials for Kampo medicines varies with the growing environment and harvest time. The lab prepares antibodies, bioimprinted proteins, and aptamers specific to secondary metabolites, and works to establish specific and highly sensitive analytical methods.
MembersFaculty
Members of the Pharmacognosy Lab include faculty, technical assistants, and students at the doctoral, master's, and undergraduate levels.As of 2026
- Associate ProfessorSeiichi Sakamoto
- Assistant ProfessorPoomraphie Nuntawong
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Medicinal herbs garden hospital” User:Mattes / Public domain (cropped)
- Compounds produced by cannabis and allelopathy: “Hemp plants-cannabis sativa-single 3” Nabokov / Public domain (cropped)
- Breeding medicinal plants that can be supplied stably: “Plantes médicinales planche 2 - Medicinal plants, medical herbs, botanical illustrations, plate 2 - Public domain illustration from Larousse du XXème siècle 1932” EN NOIR & BLANC / CC0 (cropped)
- Analytical methods for measuring the quality of crude drugs: “High-performance liquid chromatography” Dqwyy / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Kampo Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences Lab): “Herbal medicine cabinet 2023” Athikhun.suw / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Precision Molecular Transformation Chemistry Lab): “Positron Emission Tomography” Christkannada / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Pharmaceutical Information Analysis Lab): “Old pharmacy pills exposition in exposition History of pharmacies in Kuks Hospital in Kuks, Trutnov District” Jiří Sedláček / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Clinical Drug Optimization Lab): “Pharmacie in Paulista Avenue” Wilfredor / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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