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Paul Bremner has a particular interest in molecular and chemical authentication, including DNA fingerprinting and HPLC profiling of herbal medicinal products in the context of EU Directive 2004/24/EC which came into force in May 2011; and the impact on public health of medicinal herb use and the authentication of material sold.

Paul was also a Member (2008-2011) of both the Expert Group for Medicinal Plant Drugs at the European Pharmacopeia, Group 13B and the British Pharmacopeia on the Expert Advisory Group: Herbal and Complementary Medicines.

Biotechnology Group

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• DNA authentication of medicinal plant drugs
• Impact upon public health arising from the public’s use of medicinal plant drugs
• Plant natural product chemistry and biological implications
• Isolation and characterisation of natural products and biological activity.
• Use of herbal medicinal products in the community (public health).
• Identity of herbal products sold on open market, using DNA technology.

• Biochemistry to 1st Years (Biomedical, MPharm and Pharmaceutical scientists)
• Medicinal plant drugs and natural product chemistry to 3rd and 4th years (MPharm).

PhD, MBA, BSc, PGCert. in Professional and Higher Education.

• Masters in Pharmacy
• Biomedical Science 
• Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Sciences

British Pharmacopeia and European Pharmacopeia. Expert committees on herbal medicine.                                                                                                 

Committee: British Pharmacopeia on the Expert Advisory Group: Herbal and Complementary Medicines.     Period: 2008-2011.

Description: Ensuring pharmacopeia descriptions are accurate and appropriate for manufacturers to produce quality products for public sale; in addition: that they are in harmony with European guidelines.

• Fellow of The Linnaean Society, Piccadilly, London. May 2005 to present.
• Fellow of Higher Education Academy May 2008 to present.

• Middle East Association sponsored trade mission to Iraqi-Kurdistan:
  February–March 2012. To explore and develop collaborative links with universities, investors and the public sector.
• Poster: World Congress on medicinal and aromatic plants (WOCMAP) in South Africa. C Howard, P Bremner, M R Fowler, and A Slater. Molecular identification of Hypericum L by PCR amplification of the rDNA ITS region. Cape Town, November 2008.
• Poster: The British Pharmaceutical conference, Manchester, 2008.
  C Howard, P B Bremner, M R Fowler, and A Slater.  Molecular Identification of St John’s Wort by PCR amplification of the ITS and 5.8S rDNA Region: Implications for medicinal plant identification. British Pharmaceutical Conference (BPC), Manchester, September. Selected to give a short oral presentation
• Plenary lecture: At international conferences in Bangalore, India. The conference had 1,200 delegates and over 600 poster presentations. 26–28 February 2009.
• Poster at an International conference in Geneva: Molecular Identification and Quantification of Hypericum perforatum in mixed samples (2009) C Howard, P D Bremner, M R Fowler, N W Scott, and A Slater. 55th International Congress and Annual Meeting of the Society for Medicinal Plant and Natural Product Research. Geneva, Swizerland. 16-20 August 2009.

Sarah Smith, MSc by research. 2nd supervisor

British Council: “Development of forensic science curriculum and scoping of need to create a centre of excellence” DelPHE-Iraq initiative. Jan–Sept 2011.  £60,000, in collaboration with Dr Mark Chase and the forensic team. A film of the Iraqi academics experience is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksDN6Nc_z6k

Schwabe Pharma: Euro 30,000. Consultancy lab-based project in collaboration with Prof Adrian Slater and Dr Caroline Howard.

Internal PhD scholarship. Student: Dr Caroline Howard. June 2007-2011. Completed successfully. Title: The development of Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) based methods for the identification and authentication of medicinal plant material.

Journal of Ethnopharmacology, since 2008. Reviewing papers that are submitted for publication.

Iraqi project has the potential for a large impact. It was the highest rated project by the British Council. See link to film above plus future British Council advertising of our project.