Two herbal remedies will be studied by a team of scientists by a center created with a $6 million, five-year grant.

The National Institute of Health’s grant created the Center for Research on Dietary Botanical Supplements. The center will study the health benefits of echinacea and St. John’s wort.

“They are such popular and traditional herbal remedies,” said Jonathan Wendel, professor of botany. Yet very little is known about the chemical composition, the benefits and the risks of these plants, he said.

“Science hasn’t looked at any of these questions,” Wendel said.

Now 16 Iowa State researchers will try to determine those answers, with the cooperation of five team members from the University of Iowa and one from Louisiana State University, said Diane Birt, professor and chair of food science and human nutrition and director of the center.

The herbs were chosen because of their connection to Iowa State, Birt said.

“There’s a background at Iowa State and they both grow in Iowa,” she said.

Echinacea is native to Iowa, while St. John’s wort is an escaped weed, Birt said.

The world’s echinacea seed repository is here at the Agricultural Research Service’s plant introduction station, Birt said. The genetic material of each slightly different species is stored at Iowa State, she said.

Echinacea grows right on campus, Birth said, in front of the Sloss house. Gardener’s typically know the herb as purple coneflower.

St. John’s wort has been researched at Iowa State for over ten years.

“Two of our key investigators have had a long term collaboration concerning St. John’s wort,” Birt said.

Susan Carpenter, professor of veterinary microbiology and preventive medicine and George Kraus, professor of chemistry, have been studying St. John’s Wort for 12 years, Carpenter said.

The pair have looked at the chemical component, hypericin, which is believed be the source of St. John’s Wort’s beneficial properties, she said.

Both are involved in the new center. Their new work will be an “extension of their research,” Carpenter said.

“It’s a big center and there’s a whole bunch of people involved,” Carpenter said.

The center is “so interdisciplinary,” Wendel said. People involved range from botany to food science and human nutrition to chemistry and molecular biology, he said.

Birt also points out the team’s diverse academic background.

“This is a team of types of people that don’t normally work together,” Birt said.

The different scientists use the different language specific to their field of study, yet they are all talking about the same thing, she said. “The interaction is going very well,” Birt said.

The team met for the first time Monday, Birt said.

“We’re talking about what our first steps are,” she said.

The team will face some initial difficulties.

“One of the challenges since we got the grant in July is we can’t make fresh plantings for this year,” Birt said.

Once plants are grown they will go to the chemists on the team for chemical fractionation, she said. The resulting washes are then passed to other members of the team looking at biological aspects of the plants. Both herbs have been used for medicinal purposes for a long time.

“[The Center] will look at what nature has given us and what the effects on humans are,” Wendel said. Echinacea is known for preventing inflammation and aiding healing, Birt said, while depression is the one for St. John’s wort.

The teams look for certain things in the composition of the plants that could be the cause of these natural remedies, Birt said.

They look at what may be inhibiting and enhancing the immune and other bodily systems, she said.

“The challenge could be that it’s a combination of chemicals,” Birt said.

Also, different plants and different growing conditions could have an effect on the herbs, Birt said. However, the team will compare species, growth conditions and cultivation to even out the possible effects, she said.

“We’re optimistic about better informing consumers of these supplements,” she said.

A grant of such high competitiveness and monetary value is always very visible in the academic world, Wendel said.

“It’s a coup for Iowa State,” he said. “It’s a wonderful thing.”