BACKGROUND Natural products (NPs) are important to the drug discovery process. NP research efforts are expanding world-wide and South Africa is no exception to this. While freely-accessible small molecule databases, containing compounds isolated from indigenous sources, have been established in a number of other countries, there is currently no such online database in South Africa. DESCRIPTIO...

An important aim in biology research is the elucidation of the role of proteins in complex, dynamic biological systems through the selective perturbation of their function. In contrast to genetic perturbations, chemical perturbations of protein function are conditional, acute, easily tuneable and reversible. [1] Furthermore, drug development still largely depends on the availability of bioactiv...

The present study prepares alkali lignin (AL) via acidification of black liquor, obtained from a pulp and paper factory. The average molecular weight of AL (equal to 2,530 g/mol) has been determined with gel permeation chromatography. AL has been modified by ethylene glycol, while lignin nanoparticles (LN) has been prepared through acid precipitation technology, their size being assessed by mea...

Cyanobacteria are well known for their production of a multitude of highly toxic substances . The genus Stigomena is regarded as good candidates for producing biologically active secondary metabolites, which are highly toxic to humans and other animals. The carcass of a dog was found at the shore of Lake Ali-Abad, Iran. Biomass from the discovery site appeared to be of cyanobacterial nature. We...