Acadia University researcher Dr. Sherri McFarland understands plants, especially the tough ones that pop up in unlikely places and make themselves at home.

McFarland has devised a way to harness the toughness of plants for healthcare. An associate professor in Acadia’s Chemistry Department, she is also CEO and co-founder of Fenol Farm, Inc., a new company that combines plant extracts with light technology to kill oral bacteria in a process called photodynamic inactivation.

“Plants are an excellent source for biologically active ingredients,” McFarland says. “Typically those things in the plant that give them the ability to fight off infection or survive drastic temperature changes and thrive in nutrient-poor locations may confer a similar advantage in people.”

McFarland’s research is garnering awards. Fenol Farm, Inc., won the $100,000 first prize, Annapolis Valley region, in Innovacorp’s I–3 contest for 2013–14. The contest sought start-up companies with strong market potential. In 2012, Fenol Farm, Inc. won the Agri-Marine Innovation Competition, and they have also received competitive support from FarmWorks.

Twice in the past year, McFarland herself has won Innovacorp’s ESCF (Early Stage Commercialization Fund) competition, which is open to academic researchers.

In the future, her research could mark an advance in the treatment of cancer.

In fact, the goal of her academic research is to invent or design new drug candidates for photodynamic therapy, a process that uses light to activate an otherwise nontoxic drug to kill cancer cells. She has filed three patents and has a licensing agreement with an industrial partner. One of her compounds is scheduled to enter human Phase 1 clinical trials for treating bladder cancer in 2014.

Important projects for students

McFarland’s lab uses three full-time research associates whose positions are funded through licensing agreements and academic grants. This enables her to keep the lab active all year, even when she’s teaching. “That’s allowed us to take on a number of undergraduates and give them quite important projects,” she says. “At a small university like Acadia, undergraduates play a more significant role in the overall research program than at a large university.”

Jordan Gibson is a fourth-year honours chemistry student. Last summer, working in the lab under an NSERC grant, Gibson was synthesizing new compounds.

“The entire honours experience for me has been a tremendous opportunity,” he says. Working in the lab opened his eyes to the research field, something he hopes to incorporate into a medical career.

“Had I not had this experience of working in the lab with Dr. McFarland, I don’t think I would have been considering that possible avenue for a career path quite as seriously,” Gibson says. “Acadia, especially in their chemistry program, has a tremendous number of opportunities – working labs where students can gain experience and really learn a lot about the research field.”

Marc Hetu, in his final year of a BSc in biology with a minor in chemistry, processes plants for medicinal purposes. He harvests and cleans the roots, shreds and dries them, and carries out a variety of measurements and analyses after soaking them in solvent to obtain the plant extract.

Hetu initially had a summer job in the lab. He is now working there as part of a Research Topics course, with the additional responsibility of training a new student. He has become the resident expert in using a particular microwave extractor, a skill he would never have developed in class. He plans to continue his work in the lab again this summer.

“It’s not a class – it’s actual experience,” Hetu says.

Value is multiplied

Involving undergraduates in research is “good for all of us, working as a team,” says McFarland. “It’s not only beneficial for the undergraduate in terms of gaining experience, but also for lab assistants and upper-level undergraduates in terms of mentoring.”

The research enriches the classroom experience, too.

“How we get a drug for cancer, all the way from the lab, where somebody dreams up an idea on paper, to actually getting this to a human, is not straightforward at all,” McFarland says. “I can add a lot to teaching just by having been through it.” 

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