Why is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) interested in Tongkat ali extract?

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a world renowned research university with special emphasis on scientific, technology, and engineering education. In fact, it is ranked in the top ten in many university rankings.  

In partnership with the Malaysian Government, they have formed the Malaysian-MIT Biotechnology Partnership Programme (MMBPP) with the objective to “develop advanced technologies that command the future of biotechnology”[1]

The program focuses on Malaysia’s natural resources, of which Eurycoma longifolia (Tongkat Ali) is one. Referred to as an indigenous medicinal plant which may have pharmaceutical and nutraceutical value, the goal is to isolate bioactive compounds which may lead to the discovery of new medicines that might be commercialized and used around the world.

What does this mean? It means these researchers believe this plant may serve as a cure for certain diseases. Their objective is to find the compound(s) involved.

Dr. ChoKyun Rha, head of Biomaterials Science and Engineering Laboratory at MIT talks about this kind of natural discovery in a research summary. She writes: “Natural product discovery involves the isolation and identification of bioactive compounds from natural sources. Many modern commercial medicines are derived from plants, such as aspirin, morphine, Taxol and digitalis. Vietnamese lore attributes the tree, Tongkat Ali (Eurycoma longifolia), with the capability to cure 1,000 diseases. Our findings show that some components from this tree have anti-viral, anti-cancer and androgenic properties.”[3]

It should be pretty clear why a leading research university would be interested in Eurycoma longifolia (Tongkat ali). With the medical potentials of fight cancer, curing erectile dysfunction, stopping viral diseases, and possibly more; they would be remiss to pass it by.

Read here about other researchers interested in Tongkat Ali.

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[1] http://www.cspinet.org
[2] http://csbi.mit.edu/people/rha.html
[3] http://global.mit.edu/projects/project/malaysia-mit-biotechnology-partnership-program