Katra
09-21-2007, 08:18 PM
Friends of the Fungus
Â*
Â*
Â*Â*Â* Greetings.
Â*
Â*
Â*Â*Â*Â* Attached is a jointly released press announcement from Fungi
Perfecti, LLC, with
approval by USAMRIID and NIH,Â* the culmination of many years of my
research on the
antimicrobial properties of mushrooms. This topic as well as research by
many
other mycologists will be discussed in depth at our upcoming 3rd
International Medicinal
Mushroom Conference ( www.fungi.com/conference)Â* to be held in Port
Townsend,
Washington on October 12-17th, 2005. For more details go to
www.fungi.com. Currently,
we have approximately 90 abstracts submitted. We hope you can attend.
Please spread the
word. And, stay in touch, this is just the beginning.....
Â*
Â*
Personally, I want to thank all of you who have supported us through the
years. We are on
this path together.
Â*
Be well
Â*
Â*
Paul Stamets
Director & Founder
Fungi Perfecti Research Laboratories
Kamilche Point, Washington USA
Â*
Â*
Press and investor relations, please contact:
Phil Stern, yet2.com
pstern@yet2.com
1-617-557-3800 x103
17 Monsignor O¹Brien Highway
Cambridge, MA 02141
Medicinal Mushrooms from Old-Growth Forests
May Counter Smallpox and Similar Viruses
Â*
Â*
Â*Â*Â*Â* Mycologist Paul Stamets tests over 100 mushroom extracts with NIH
and USAMRIID.
Several show selective potent anti-viral properties.
Â*
Â*
Â*Â*Â*Â* Kamilche Point, Washington 24 March 2005 Â* Recent in vitro tests
demonstrate that a
specially prepared extract from Fomitopsis officinalis is highly
selective against viruses. F.
officinalis is a wood conk mushroom, known for thousands of years as
Agarikon. It is
extinct or nearly so in Europe and Asia, and is still found in the
old-growth forests of the
American Pacific Northwest. It may provide novel anti-viral drugs useful
for protecting against
pox and other viruses.
Â*
Â*Â*Â*Â* That is the forecast of Paul Stamets, owner and director of the
research laboratories of
Fungi Perfecti of Kamilche Point, Washington. He is a mycologist‹a
fungus expert. For the
past two years, Stamets has prepared more than a hundred strains of
medicinal mushroom
extracts for testing by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases (NIAID), part of
the National Institutes of Health and the US Army Medical Research
Institute of Infectious
Diseases (USAMRIID), in their joint biodefense antiviral screening
program. The results to
date promise breakthroughs on this biomedical frontier.
Â*
Â*Â*Â*Â*
Â*Â*Â*Â* Dr. John A. Secrist III, vice president of Southern Research
Institute¹s Drug Discovery
Division, who oversees an NIAID contract to evaluate potential antiviral
drugs, notes that
³Several of Stamets¹ medicinal mushroom extracts have shown very
interesting activity
against pox viruses in cell culture assays performed through NIAID, and
we are hopeful that
they will also prove effective in the animal model systems. The number
of different classes of
compounds that show promising activity is small, so finding something
new would be of great
benefit to the scientific community.² In fact, of more than 200,000
samples submitted over
several years, only a handful are slated for animal testing each year.Â*
In the past year,
approximately ten samples showed activity warranting approval for animal
testing; of these,
two are from strains of Agarikon discovered by Stamets. Moreover, Mr.
Stamets¹ samples are
the only natural products extracts tested through this program that have
demonstrated very
active anti-pox activity.
Â*
Â*
Â*Â*Â*Â* The NIH/USAMRIID screening program tests the mushroom extracts
against viruses that
could be weaponized, including the viruses causing yellow fever, dengue,
SARS, respiratory
viruses, and pox viruses. Of the Agarikon samples submitted to date,
several showed potent
activity for reducing infection from vaccinia and cowpox, which are in
the same family as the
smallpox virus. These extracts show activity against vaccinia and cowpox
by two different viral
evaluations, demonstrating the reproducibility of the results. Stamets
has filed several patents,
both US and international, on the anti-viral properties of mushrooms in
the Fomitopsis
family. However, only compounds derived using Mr. Stamets¹ proprietary,
patent-pending
methodology for cell cultures show activity; simple extracts from the
woody conks (such as tea
or infusions) are not active.Â* Harvesting these rare conks from the
forests will not provide
therapeutic benefits and could impair the reproduction of the fungus.
Â*
Â*
Â*Â*Â*Â* While several strains of extract generated strong anti-pox
activity, other strains were less
potent. This underscores the importance of conserving mycodiversity.
More potent strains may
yet be discovered. As for F. officinalis, this mushroom was first
described 2000 years ago as
an anti-inflammatory medicine by Dioscorides, the Greek physician in his
text Materia Medica.
Â*
Â*Â*Â*Â* ³The ecological niche for these unique mushrooms is increasingly
jeopardized as humans
destroy old-growth habitats,² comments Stamets. ³As this happens, the
pool of available
strains will be further reduced. Acquiring as many strains as possible
should be an
international priority so that preventive or curative medicines against
pox and related viruses
can be developed. Personally, I believe we should be saving our old
growth forests as a
matter of national defense.² Besides having a direct anti-viral or
anti-bacterial effect,
mushroom derivatives can also activate the natural immune system.
Evaluations in an animal
model are planned for the near future. ³Until then,² Stamets cautions,
³we cannot draw
conclusions about the ultimate effectiveness of these mycologically
based antivirals.² Testing
against other viruses continues. Stamets has already been granted a
patent on fungus-derived
products; several more are in the offing. His research has been
self-funded from his other
businesses.
Â*
Â*
yet2.com is Stamets¹ partner for licensing and commercializing his
intellectual property.
Â*
Â*
About Fungi Perfecti
Â*
Â*
Â*Â*Â*Â* Paul Stamets has written six books, several used as textbooks
around the world by the
gourmet and medicinal mushroom industry. Fungi Perfecti, LLC (
www.fungi.com) was founded
in 1980; it has four laboratories, 10,000 sq. ft. of clean rooms, and is
equipped with 17
laminar flow benches for doing in vitro propagation work. The culture
collection of Fungi
Perfecti consists of hundreds of cultures of medicinal mushrooms, many
isolated from the old-
growth forests of the Pacific Northwest. Stamets has received several
environmental awards,
including the 1998 "Bioneers Award" from The Collective Heritage
Institute, and the 1999
"Founder of a New Northwest Award" from the Pacific Rim Association of
Resource
Conservation and Development Councils. He is an advisor to the Program
of Integrative
Medicine at the University of Arizona, Tucson; serves on the Editorial
Board of The
International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms, and was appointed to the
G.A.P. (Good
Agricultural Practices)/G.M.P. (Good Manufacturing Practices) advisory
board of the U.S.
Pharmacopoeia. Dr. Andrew Weil and David Eisenberg of Harvard Medical
School are
recommending Stamets¹ products for immune support. Stamets is the
sole-source supplier
and co-investigator of the first NIH-funded clinical study using
medicinal mushrooms in the
United States. He is involved in several other research trials ongoing
and pending. His
company is the sponsor of the Third International Medicinal Mushroom
Conference to be held
in Port Townsend, Washington Oct. 12-17, 2005 where researchers from
around the world
will convene to discuss the latest developments in the use of medicinal
mushrooms as sources
for new antiviral and anticancer drugs.
Â*
Â*
About USAMRIID
Â*
Â*
Â*Â*Â* The US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases,
located at Fort Detrick,
Maryland, is the lead medical research laboratory for the U.S.
Biological Defense Research
Program, and plays a key role in national defense and in infectious
disease research.Â* The
Institute¹s mission is to conduct basic and applied research on
biological threats resulting in
medical solutions (such as vaccines, drugs and diagnostics) to protect
the warfighter.Â*
USAMRIID is a subordinate laboratory of the U.S. Army Medical Research
and Materiel
Command.
Â*
Â*
About yet2.com Inc.
Â*
Â*
Â*Â*Â* yet2.com provides intellectual property consulting and licensing
services to clients around
the globe. yet2.com Inc and its online marketplace was founded in 1999
to promote
technology licensing and transfer, with joint investment from Siemens,
Bayer, Honeywell,
DuPont, Procter & Gamble, Caterpillar, and NTT Leasing. The
privately-held company has
offices in the United States, Europe, and Japan. Its clientele consists
of a quarter of the
Fortune 1000. yet2.com draws upon its global network of technology
leaders in thousands of
companies across all industries, to establish productive dialogs quickly.
Â*
Â*
For more information, visit http://www.yet2.com.
Â*
Â*
The information contained in this press release does not necessarily
reflect the position or the
policy of the Government and no official endorsement should be inferred.
--
K.
Sprout the Mung Bean to reply...
There is no need to change the world. All we have to do is toilet train the world and we'll never have to change it again. -- Swami Beyondanada
>,,<Cat's Haven Hobby Farm>,,<Katraatcenturyteldotnet>,,<
http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&include=0&userid=katra
Â*
Â*
Â*Â*Â* Greetings.
Â*
Â*
Â*Â*Â*Â* Attached is a jointly released press announcement from Fungi
Perfecti, LLC, with
approval by USAMRIID and NIH,Â* the culmination of many years of my
research on the
antimicrobial properties of mushrooms. This topic as well as research by
many
other mycologists will be discussed in depth at our upcoming 3rd
International Medicinal
Mushroom Conference ( www.fungi.com/conference)Â* to be held in Port
Townsend,
Washington on October 12-17th, 2005. For more details go to
www.fungi.com. Currently,
we have approximately 90 abstracts submitted. We hope you can attend.
Please spread the
word. And, stay in touch, this is just the beginning.....
Â*
Â*
Personally, I want to thank all of you who have supported us through the
years. We are on
this path together.
Â*
Be well
Â*
Â*
Paul Stamets
Director & Founder
Fungi Perfecti Research Laboratories
Kamilche Point, Washington USA
Â*
Â*
Press and investor relations, please contact:
Phil Stern, yet2.com
pstern@yet2.com
1-617-557-3800 x103
17 Monsignor O¹Brien Highway
Cambridge, MA 02141
Medicinal Mushrooms from Old-Growth Forests
May Counter Smallpox and Similar Viruses
Â*
Â*
Â*Â*Â*Â* Mycologist Paul Stamets tests over 100 mushroom extracts with NIH
and USAMRIID.
Several show selective potent anti-viral properties.
Â*
Â*
Â*Â*Â*Â* Kamilche Point, Washington 24 March 2005 Â* Recent in vitro tests
demonstrate that a
specially prepared extract from Fomitopsis officinalis is highly
selective against viruses. F.
officinalis is a wood conk mushroom, known for thousands of years as
Agarikon. It is
extinct or nearly so in Europe and Asia, and is still found in the
old-growth forests of the
American Pacific Northwest. It may provide novel anti-viral drugs useful
for protecting against
pox and other viruses.
Â*
Â*Â*Â*Â* That is the forecast of Paul Stamets, owner and director of the
research laboratories of
Fungi Perfecti of Kamilche Point, Washington. He is a mycologist‹a
fungus expert. For the
past two years, Stamets has prepared more than a hundred strains of
medicinal mushroom
extracts for testing by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases (NIAID), part of
the National Institutes of Health and the US Army Medical Research
Institute of Infectious
Diseases (USAMRIID), in their joint biodefense antiviral screening
program. The results to
date promise breakthroughs on this biomedical frontier.
Â*
Â*Â*Â*Â*
Â*Â*Â*Â* Dr. John A. Secrist III, vice president of Southern Research
Institute¹s Drug Discovery
Division, who oversees an NIAID contract to evaluate potential antiviral
drugs, notes that
³Several of Stamets¹ medicinal mushroom extracts have shown very
interesting activity
against pox viruses in cell culture assays performed through NIAID, and
we are hopeful that
they will also prove effective in the animal model systems. The number
of different classes of
compounds that show promising activity is small, so finding something
new would be of great
benefit to the scientific community.² In fact, of more than 200,000
samples submitted over
several years, only a handful are slated for animal testing each year.Â*
In the past year,
approximately ten samples showed activity warranting approval for animal
testing; of these,
two are from strains of Agarikon discovered by Stamets. Moreover, Mr.
Stamets¹ samples are
the only natural products extracts tested through this program that have
demonstrated very
active anti-pox activity.
Â*
Â*
Â*Â*Â*Â* The NIH/USAMRIID screening program tests the mushroom extracts
against viruses that
could be weaponized, including the viruses causing yellow fever, dengue,
SARS, respiratory
viruses, and pox viruses. Of the Agarikon samples submitted to date,
several showed potent
activity for reducing infection from vaccinia and cowpox, which are in
the same family as the
smallpox virus. These extracts show activity against vaccinia and cowpox
by two different viral
evaluations, demonstrating the reproducibility of the results. Stamets
has filed several patents,
both US and international, on the anti-viral properties of mushrooms in
the Fomitopsis
family. However, only compounds derived using Mr. Stamets¹ proprietary,
patent-pending
methodology for cell cultures show activity; simple extracts from the
woody conks (such as tea
or infusions) are not active.Â* Harvesting these rare conks from the
forests will not provide
therapeutic benefits and could impair the reproduction of the fungus.
Â*
Â*
Â*Â*Â*Â* While several strains of extract generated strong anti-pox
activity, other strains were less
potent. This underscores the importance of conserving mycodiversity.
More potent strains may
yet be discovered. As for F. officinalis, this mushroom was first
described 2000 years ago as
an anti-inflammatory medicine by Dioscorides, the Greek physician in his
text Materia Medica.
Â*
Â*Â*Â*Â* ³The ecological niche for these unique mushrooms is increasingly
jeopardized as humans
destroy old-growth habitats,² comments Stamets. ³As this happens, the
pool of available
strains will be further reduced. Acquiring as many strains as possible
should be an
international priority so that preventive or curative medicines against
pox and related viruses
can be developed. Personally, I believe we should be saving our old
growth forests as a
matter of national defense.² Besides having a direct anti-viral or
anti-bacterial effect,
mushroom derivatives can also activate the natural immune system.
Evaluations in an animal
model are planned for the near future. ³Until then,² Stamets cautions,
³we cannot draw
conclusions about the ultimate effectiveness of these mycologically
based antivirals.² Testing
against other viruses continues. Stamets has already been granted a
patent on fungus-derived
products; several more are in the offing. His research has been
self-funded from his other
businesses.
Â*
Â*
yet2.com is Stamets¹ partner for licensing and commercializing his
intellectual property.
Â*
Â*
About Fungi Perfecti
Â*
Â*
Â*Â*Â*Â* Paul Stamets has written six books, several used as textbooks
around the world by the
gourmet and medicinal mushroom industry. Fungi Perfecti, LLC (
www.fungi.com) was founded
in 1980; it has four laboratories, 10,000 sq. ft. of clean rooms, and is
equipped with 17
laminar flow benches for doing in vitro propagation work. The culture
collection of Fungi
Perfecti consists of hundreds of cultures of medicinal mushrooms, many
isolated from the old-
growth forests of the Pacific Northwest. Stamets has received several
environmental awards,
including the 1998 "Bioneers Award" from The Collective Heritage
Institute, and the 1999
"Founder of a New Northwest Award" from the Pacific Rim Association of
Resource
Conservation and Development Councils. He is an advisor to the Program
of Integrative
Medicine at the University of Arizona, Tucson; serves on the Editorial
Board of The
International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms, and was appointed to the
G.A.P. (Good
Agricultural Practices)/G.M.P. (Good Manufacturing Practices) advisory
board of the U.S.
Pharmacopoeia. Dr. Andrew Weil and David Eisenberg of Harvard Medical
School are
recommending Stamets¹ products for immune support. Stamets is the
sole-source supplier
and co-investigator of the first NIH-funded clinical study using
medicinal mushrooms in the
United States. He is involved in several other research trials ongoing
and pending. His
company is the sponsor of the Third International Medicinal Mushroom
Conference to be held
in Port Townsend, Washington Oct. 12-17, 2005 where researchers from
around the world
will convene to discuss the latest developments in the use of medicinal
mushrooms as sources
for new antiviral and anticancer drugs.
Â*
Â*
About USAMRIID
Â*
Â*
Â*Â*Â* The US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases,
located at Fort Detrick,
Maryland, is the lead medical research laboratory for the U.S.
Biological Defense Research
Program, and plays a key role in national defense and in infectious
disease research.Â* The
Institute¹s mission is to conduct basic and applied research on
biological threats resulting in
medical solutions (such as vaccines, drugs and diagnostics) to protect
the warfighter.Â*
USAMRIID is a subordinate laboratory of the U.S. Army Medical Research
and Materiel
Command.
Â*
Â*
About yet2.com Inc.
Â*
Â*
Â*Â*Â* yet2.com provides intellectual property consulting and licensing
services to clients around
the globe. yet2.com Inc and its online marketplace was founded in 1999
to promote
technology licensing and transfer, with joint investment from Siemens,
Bayer, Honeywell,
DuPont, Procter & Gamble, Caterpillar, and NTT Leasing. The
privately-held company has
offices in the United States, Europe, and Japan. Its clientele consists
of a quarter of the
Fortune 1000. yet2.com draws upon its global network of technology
leaders in thousands of
companies across all industries, to establish productive dialogs quickly.
Â*
Â*
For more information, visit http://www.yet2.com.
Â*
Â*
The information contained in this press release does not necessarily
reflect the position or the
policy of the Government and no official endorsement should be inferred.
--
K.
Sprout the Mung Bean to reply...
There is no need to change the world. All we have to do is toilet train the world and we'll never have to change it again. -- Swami Beyondanada
>,,<Cat's Haven Hobby Farm>,,<Katraatcenturyteldotnet>,,<
http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&include=0&userid=katra