Adnan Amin

Resilient forest remedies: biochemical diversity, health benefits, and conservation of medicinal berries in changing ecosystems.

Forest berries are valuable bioactive food resources that link plant biodiversity, food quality, nutrition, and sustainable use. Many medicinal forest berries contain anthocyanins, flavonoids, phenolic acids, carotenoids, lignans, vitamins, and other specialized metabolites that contribute to antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, cardiometabolic, neuroprotective, immunomodulatory, and gut-health-related effects. Their composition and functional value are not fixed traits; they are shaped by species identity, forest type, altitude, climate, soil conditions, phenology, and postharvest handling. Changing ecosystems therefore represent a critical challenge for the future use of medicinal berries as functional foods and nutraceutical ingredients. Climate change, habitat fragmentation, land-use change, and unsustainable harvesting can alter berry distribution, fruit yield, phytochemical accumulation, and long-term resource availability. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the diversity, distribution, biochemical composition, and health relevance of medicinal forest berries across boreal, temperate, tropical, Mediterranean, montane, and alpine ecosystems. It also evaluates conservation and sustainable-use strategies, including in situ protection, ex situ germplasm preservation, domestication, community-based agroforestry, environmental DNA monitoring, and field-deployable metabolomic tools. By integrating phytochemistry, food functionality, ecological adaptation, and conservation, this review highlights the need to protect medicinal berry resources while improving their responsible use in food, nutraceutical, and value-added agricultural systems. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.

Polyphenol-based modulation of the Glo1–Nrf2–RAGE axis in diabetes and neurodegeneration: mechanistic evidence, translational constraints, and critical appraisal

The key pathological mechanisms in diabetes and neurodegeneration generally involve a progressive accumulation of reactive carbonyl species (RCS), accompanied by increased oxidative stress and the accumulation of inflammatory mediators. Thus, a clear understanding of the Glo1–Nrf2–RAGE axis is crucial as it plays a key role in redox imbalance, regulation of cell responses to methylglyoxal (MG)-induced glycation, and chronic inflammation. Even though glyoxalase I (Glo1) detoxifies MG to mitigate advanced glycation end product (AGE) formation, the transcription of antioxidant enzymes by nuclear factor erythroid 2–related factor 2 (Nrf2) is reactivated. Conversely, persistent activation of the receptor for AGE (RAGE) further amplifies inflammatory cascades and tissue damage. A continuous dysregulation of “this axis” can contribute to the pathogenesis of several complications, including diabetes and neurodegeneration. Nevertheless, polyphenols have emerged as nutraceutical candidates that may modulate the Glo1–Nrf2–RAGE axis due to their specialized structural features. Key polyphenols, such as quercetin, resveratrol, curcumin, epigallocatechin gallate, luteolin, and apigenin, enhance Glo1 expression and activity, promote Nrf2 nuclear translocation via Keap1 modification, and lower RAGE expression and ligand binding. However, numerous challenges, such as limited bioavailability, metabolic instability, and “interindividual variability,” hinder their clinical translation. We have tried to fill the research gap by combining recent evidence from preclinical, clinical, and molecular studies, with the aim of highlighting the pleiotropic effects of these metabolites. In addition, the molecular effects of polyphenolics with reference to modulation of mitochondrial function, regulation of epigenetic mechanisms, and interactions with the gut–brain axis are detailed.

Delivering Degradation: Nanomedicine and Programmable Proximity Platforms for Targeted Protein Degradation

Targeted protein degradation (TPD) represents a whole new paradigm in cell-level therapeutic design, with its ability to remove target proteins, normally through the endogenous proteasomal, lysosomal, or autophagic systems, rather than the traditional occupancy-driven inhibition approach. But the clinical efficacy of degraders is becoming more restricted based on delivery rather than efficacy only. Many proteolysis-targeting chimeras and new proximity-inducing systems have low solubility, are impermeable, are pharmacodynamically complicated, lack tissue selectivity, and cannot fully access the intracellular space. Nanomedicine and PD platforms could provide strategies not only to overcome these challenges, but also to provide other advantages, including enhancing exposure to degraders, biodistribution, controlled release, and context-dependent activation. This critical review is an outline of all lipid, polymeric, inorganic, biomimetic, targeted, activatable, and self-assembling delivery systems for TPD. We assess compositional considerations, in vitro and in vivo evidence, challenges for translation, and clinical endpoints required to support delivery-enabled degradation. Trusted TPD therapeutics need to relate different aspects of their design, such as degrader chemistry, carrier structure, disease biology, and pharmacodynamic biomarkers, to one another. Further investigations are needed to establish intact delivery of the degrader to the target, target depletion in relevant tissues, prolonged pharmacodynamics, favorable safety, and compelling therapeutic benefit relative to free degraders or traditional inhibitors. Thus, it is important to view delivery not simply as an additional step during formulation but as a design principle necessary for the reliable clinical outcome of degradation medicine.

CRISPR–cas systems in pharmacology: functional pharmacogenomics, drug screening, resistance, and therapeutic translation

Catechins as antibiofilm agents: molecular insights for virtual screening and in vitro biological evaluation

Introduction Bacterial Biofilms are of great concern because they are the main drivers of antimicrobial resistance. We investigated the potential of catechins against bacterial biofilms using advanced computational and in vitro models. Methods The HPLC profiling of Camellia sinensis extract confirmed the presence of catechins. The ADMET and drug-likeness studies were specified to comply with the optimal values. Results Molecular docking on 2UV0 indicated a moderate interaction with targets, which was further confirmed by DFT analysis (Homo-Lumo). Root mean square fluctuations and normal mode analysis (NMA) further supported the chemical reactivity and possible protein–ligand stabilization profile of epicatechin gallate. Antimicrobial assay showed the highest inhibition by epigallocatechin against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (minimum inhibitory concentration 15.6 μg/mL), followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (MIC 31.2 μg/ mL), Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus (MIC 62.5 μg/mL). During in vitro assays, epicatechin gallate showed significant inhibition of bacterial growth (for up to 20 h) and biofilm formation (61.5% ± 2.3%), while the other compounds showed slight or negligible inhibition. The ability of catechins to reduce oxidative stress and its main components in C. sinensis was observed. Conclusion It was thus concluded that catechin possesses significant antibacterial and antibiofilm potential that be phenotypic response.