This reference book provides a comprehensive overview of natural gums, resins, and latexes of plants with a focus on their chemistry, biological activities, and practical uses. The content is divided into five main sections each of which contains chapters contributed from valuable experts in their field.
Naturally occuring plant products have quite diverse applications in many different industries. The book aims to highlight the important aspects of plant-based gums, resins and latexes as well as provide a strategic framework for further research and development activities on these bioproducts. It will appeal to a broad audience such as biologists, pharmacologists, pharmacists, food technologists and medical practitioners. It is also a useful resource for research investigators of the healthcare industry, academia and students of biomedical sciences.
Hosakatte Niranjana Murthy, Professor at PostGraduate Department of Botany, Karnatak University, Dharwad, India, has obtained his Ph.D. from Karnatak University, India. He has a tremendous passion for research and academics. Since 1986, he has served in various positions at the Post-Graduate Department of Botany, Karnatak University, Dharwad, India. Apart from his teaching experience of 35 years, he possesses extensive research experience in the area of plant biotechnology. He has postdoctoral and collaborative research experience in many foreign research institutes. Prof. Murthy carried out research at Biotechnology Division, Tata Energy Research Institute, New Delhi, India (1992); Crop Science Department, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada (1993); Research Centre for the Development of Horticultural Technology, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, South Korea (2000-2001, 2002, 2004, 2006-2007, 2013- 2014); and in the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom (2005-2006) as a postdoctoral fellow/visiting scientist. He is the recipient of various prestigious fellowships including Biotechnology National Associate, Biotechnology Overseas Associate (awarded by the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India), Brain Pool Fellowship (awarded by the Korean Society of Science and Technology, South Korea), Visiting Fellowship (awarded by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation, South Korea), and Commonwealth Post-doctoral Fellowship (awarded by the Association of Commonwealth Universities, UK). He has completed more than 15 research projects funded by various agencies and guided several Ph.D. students. He has published more than 225 research articles in international peer-reviewed journals with high impact factors. His research work has been cited more than 4800 times by fellow researchers and has an H-index (Hirsch index) of 38 as recorded by Scopus.
Professor Hosakatte Niranjana Murthy, along with South Korean collaborators, has developed biotechnological methods for the production of pharmaceutically important secondary metabolites from cell and organ cultures of Ginseng, Siberian ginseng, Echinacea, and St. John's wort using large-scale bioreactors. His experimental investigations on the use of adventitious root cultures and bioreactor technologies for the production of biomass and secondary metabolites have paved the way for the commercialization of plant secondary metabolites. Various ginseng-based commercial products have been released and are currently available in the market.
