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Medicinal plants.  

Another fascinating area of my research is the testing of plant extracts for medicinal purposes.  It is surprising that of the approximately 250,000 plant species, only about 5% of them have been tested with this objective in mind. To investigate the role of plant extracts as antimicrobial agents, research in my lab has focused on the testing of leaf extracts from Baptisia leucophea (Fabaceae) against pathogenic and nonpathogenic bacteria.  Preliminary results show that Baptisia leaf extracts have antimicrobial activity and that this is comparable to that of common antibiotics such as tetracycline and novovicine.  I plan on expanding this research to other plant species including oaks, salvia, and sweet gum.