On Thursday, October 24th, 2024, the College of Pharmacy at Gulf Medical University hosted a research seminar presented by Dr. Haidy A. Gad, Professor in the Pharmacognosy Department at Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. The seminar, titled “Chemometrics in Herbal Medicines: Enhancing Quality Control and Phytochemical Analysis,” brought together faculty from the pharmaceutical sciences department and students from the Master’s program in Drug Discovery and Development.
Dr. Haidy, has 65 international publications and over 20 supervised theses, and specializes in the quality evaluation of herbal medicines through multivariate analysis. Her research interests include the study of phytochemicals and the biological properties of medicinal plants, with a particular focus on chemometric approaches for quality assurance.
During the seminar, Dr. Haidy introduced the concept of chemometrics, tracing its historical roots and explaining key categories and methodologies in data analysis. She emphasized its practical applications in herbal medicine, such as ensuring quality standards, distinguishing between plant species taxonomically, and determining geographical origins.
To illustrate her research, Dr. Haidy presented several case studies, including a detailed phytochemical profiling of seasonal variations in essential oils from three species of Callistemon cultivated in Egypt. She also shared insights from a comparative chemometric study evaluating different cultivars of Citrus clementina essential oil, highlighting its potential as an anti-aging agent.
The seminar concluded with an interactive Q&A session, during which participants explored how various factors influence the outcomes of chemometric analyses. This lively discussion provided deeper insights into the field and sparked new ideas for future research applications.
