Plant Rx

Catalog description

This course will explore the biomedical and neuroscientific applications of plants. Through lectures, discussions and readings, the centuries old reliance of humans on plants to treat basic ailments, as well as how plants and their metabolites have catalyzed countless advances and inspired major discoveries in neuroscience, pharmacology, and medicine will be examined. The focus of the course will be split between understanding the biology of how and why plants produce secondary metabolites with medicinal properties and understanding how these signaling molecules have been used by humans to treat various ailments and expand the mind.