The Global Institute for BioExploration (GIBEX): Building research and development capacity worldwide

Established in 2004, the Global Institute for BioExploration (GIBEX – www.gibex.org) is a research and development network that promotes ethical, natural product-based pharmacological bioexploration to benefit human health and the environment in developing countries by employing “Screens-to-Nature” (STN) technologies. STN uses rapid, cost-effective, non-hazardous, field deployable pharmacological assays to screen plants for biotherapeutic potential. The STN technology has proved to be a viable tool for early stage discovery of bioactive substances in plants, thereby facilitating the research and product development capacity of institutions in developing countries with limited resources. Building R&D collaborations between developed and developing nations also enhances the ability to discover and preserve the health-promoting potential of global natural resources before those resources, or the traditional knowledge associated with their use, is lost or destroyed.