Unlocking the medicinal properties of Malaysian honey

Dr Wai Ling Kok

Dr Wai Ling Kok from the School of Pharmacy has been awarded the Faculty of Science Pump Priming Grant for her research on Malaysian Tualang honey.

Honey has been used since ancient times for its nutritional and therapeutic values but however, their medicinal properties have not been widely studied. Honey is essentially a solution supersaturated in sugars with low moisture content, high acidity and also consists of a trace amount of other organic compounds, including phenolic acids, flavonoids, protein, vitamins and minerals.

Due to the rise in antibiotic resistance and severe wound infections, the antibacterial and wound healing properties of honey had received a generous amount of attention. This project is set out to look at the immunoregulatory role of honey, an area which is as yet well understood, with the ultimate goal to dissect the mechanism by which honey exerts its function leading towards the ‘rediscovery’ of honey for potential use in therapeutic modern medicine.

For more information contact Dr. Kok at khazwlk@nottingham.edu.my.  The School of Pharmacy offers undergraduate degrees in Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences and a four-year Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) as well as research degrees for postgraduate study.