A top natural products research scientist from Colombia visited East Tennessee State
University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy last week to meet with student pharmacists
and help demonstrate the drug discovery process.
Dr. Ruben Torrenegra, who was recognized in 2018 by the government of Colombia as
one of its top scientists, has helped make possible the college’s drug discovery program
since 2008 when he partnered with Dr. Victoria Palau, Professor Emerita of Pharmaceutical
Sciences, who started her cancer research with plants when she came to ETSU in 2007.
Torrenegra has helped train sixty ETSU student pharmacists in cancer research with
over sixty presentations at the local, national and international level, which have
produced seven well-cited publications.
Over the years, Torrenegra has collected plant material from the Andean region of
Colombia and takes them to the botanical garden in Bogota to be properly identified.
He has partnered with Palau and her students to test the plant-derived compounds to
determine their impact on different types of cancer. As part of the process, Torrenegra
helped show the students how to use chromatographic techniques to separate and purify
the different novel compounds.
After the material is purified and identified from the plants, she and her student
team study changes in cell signaling pathways in the cancer cells to elucidate the
mechanism of action of these compounds. He showed ETSU Gatton College of Pharmacy
students how to actually turn plant material into potential new drugs for the prevention
and treatment of cancer.
“Cancer research is urgent,” said Palau. “All of us, in some way, have been touched
by cancer. We all know someone who has fought cancer or is going through that fight
right now. Putting a little piece of information out there that might make a difference
— that is really important to me. There are thousands of people working on cancer
all around the world. As long as we keep working on it, we’re bound to make strides.”