Manuj Ahuja is waging war against Alzheimer's disease with the help of a plant.
Ahuja, a graduate teaching and research assistant in the Department of Pharmacal Sciences, is dedicated to determining how a traditional remedy can be used to combat the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.
Ahuja is investigating an herb called centella asiatica in the treatment and prevention of memory loss in Alzheimer's patients.
"It's a herbal plant, and it has been used in Chinese and Indian traditional medicine systems," Ahuja said. "It has been used for wound healing, for antibacterial purposes and as a memory tonic.
Ahuja and his team are studying the molecular mechanisms of the plant to determine its effectiveness in treating the symptoms of Alzheimer's.
"When it first came to the market, it was used for wound healing," Ahuja said. "Since then, it has been used for anti-cancer studies. Now, we are looking at the memory aspect of this plant."
Ahuja aims to determine which elements of the plant are responsible for the memory-enhancing effects shown in volunteers so pharmaceutical companies can begin clinical testing.
Ahuja, who came to Auburn after completing his master's degree in India, has been involved in this research for two and a half years.
"How is the brain forming new connections every day?" Ahuja said. "It fascinates me how we can think, how we can correlate the things and how we can learn new things."
Ahuja said Auburn's research opportunities far outpace those in India.
"As compared to India, you have so many facilities, and you have so many instruments which you can use in your research," Ahuja said.
But he admits the research process is challenging,
"You don't have breakthroughs every day," Ahuja said. "You have failures every day, and only one day is the lucky day when you get some results.
"After so much of the mundane and routine you get one day to say, 'Oh man, I did something!' That is what I love about it."
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