The Institute is a 4,285 square-foot Biosafety Level 2 Lab (BSL-2), a compound isolation laboratory, and a compound identification and quantification facility. The mission of the Ric Scalzo Institute for Botanical Research is to advance 21st century botanical medicine through scientific exploration grounded in clinical herbalism's rich tradition. The Institute's analytical, metabolomic and bioassay laboratories will optimize the extraction and processing of botanicals and their subsequent formulations by using current botanical drug discovery methods guided by the rich traditions from which these plants originate. The research will be done in collaboration with leading companies in the natural products industry and other academic institutions to develop new products and improve existing botanical therapeutics.
The Institute will focus on the development of new antimicrobial therapies so critical in this age of novel viruses and antibiotic resistance, Cannabis sativa therapies, FDA-approved botanical drug products and more.