Dr. Ian Tietjen is education director, Global Studies & Partnerships, Hubert J.P. Schoemaker Education and Training Center & assistant professor in Wistar’s Vaccine & Immunotherapy Center, where he investigates traditional African medicinal compounds’ potential for drug origination against viruses like HIV. Dr. Tietjen travels to Africa to work with traditional healers to better understand the function of these compounds.
For this field work, I am working with Prof. Saidou Baldé from the IRDPMAG, or the Guinea Institute for Research and Development of Medicinal Plants and Foods, which is the national institute that documents plants across the country that are traditionally used for medicines and foods and investigates their chemistry and bioactivities. We want to work with traditional healers across the country, introduce them to some of our laboratory techniques, and discuss potential collaborations together. If possible, we will also try to collect medicinal plants to test for antiviral activities in the lab and communicate those results back to them in a future visit.
Guinea is located on the corner of West Africa and has some of the friendliest and most interesting people in the world. Unfortunately, the region is also a hotspot for emerging viruses and has been the center of multiple outbreaks, including a major Ebolavirus outbreak from 2013 – 2016. Other infectious diseases like yellow fever, Lassa fever, dengue fever, and COVID-19, along with malaria and tuberculosis, are also endemic here. As a result, the population overwhelmingly relies on medicinal plants and the knowledge of traditional healers for their healthcare. We are interested in working with Guinea’s healers to understand how they treat these infectious diseases and, if they are willing, working with them to understand how their antiviral plants work at the molecular and cellular levels.
Today is Friday, and since arriving in the capital city of Conakry late on Wednesday, I have been in the smaller town of Kindia at the Guinea Institute of Applied Biology Research. The Institute is celebrating its 100th year with an outdoor conference showcasing the various technologies and research across Guinea. The Institute researches yellow fever virus, dengue viruses, and other pathogens, but is also the only place in the country where people can go for treating snakebites, which maim and kill hundreds across the country each year.
For the past few days, we have worked with healers from Kindia and Dubreka to test some of their medicinal plants for antioxidant, anti-glucosidase, and anti-bacterial properties. The healers grind up some of their plants and incubate them in water, which allows us to extract the chemicals we’re interested in and test them with special assays.
Today, we tested six plants for antioxidant activities, and three were as strong as Vitamin C (which is fairly strong). After we discussed the data, the healers enthusiastically offered six more plants that they thought would be antioxidants, and we successfully confirmed that they were indeed effective. Even though we speak different languages and have completely different backgrounds, we can still talk science. It’s an exhilarating feeling.
Getting to Kindia requires a ~100-mile drive north from Conakry that takes three hours of weaving through traffic and dodging motorcycles, goats, and gaggles of school kids. Kindia itself is a chaotic, bustling town filled with crowded markets and the constant roar of traffic and business. The food is often a very spicy stew of vegetables, grilled meats, and anything else that the cooks could find served atop a heavy starch. The oranges, apples, and bananas and hibiscus tea are all outstanding. At the end of the night, I am covered in sweat and dust and sleep very well.
