National Center for Natural Products Research Offers Postdocs Fertile Ground

At the National Center for Natural Products Research, three postdoctoral research associates are helping discover and determine the quality of the plants and compounds that may become medicines and supplements.

Thi Minh Dao Duong

Postdoctoral research associate, National Center for Natural Products Research

Nature has long been a source of medicine, and Duong believes it has barely been tapped. Her postdoctoral research focuses on drug discovery from natural product extracts, a field she is drawn to because of its rich and largely untapped sources of potential therapeutic compounds.

For Duong, the challenge is part of the appeal. Natural extracts contain enormous chemical diversity, and developing an effective approach to explore and unlock it is one of the most exciting aspects of the work.

She chose the University of Mississippi for its strong expertise and excellent environment for natural products research. She has now been at the center for more than three years, continuing to build her research interests and experience in natural product-based drug discovery.

Josimar Kulkamp

Postdoctoral research associate, National Center for Natural Products Research

Before a plant can be studied as a medicine, someone must be sure it is what it claims to be. That is the focus of Kulkamp’s postdoctoral work, which combines plant taxonomy, botanical collections and the authentication of plant materials. He identifies botanical materials using morphological, anatomical and microscopic characteristics, and he helps curate and organize the center's plant collections.

Differences in plant identity can affect a material's chemical composition and biological properties, making it central to both research quality and product safety. Kulkamp is fascinated by plant diversity and by the challenge of telling apart closely related species that can be hard to distinguish.

One of his favorite aspects of the work is using microscopy and plant anatomy to identify materials that have been processed into powders or other forms. Once a plant is ground up, many of the features used for field identification disappear, but anatomical and microscopic details can still provide clues for distinguishing species and detecting possible substitutions or adulteration.

Kumar Katragunta

Postdoctoral research associate, National Center for Natural Products Research

Katragunta works at the intersection of analytical chemistry, pharmacognosy and public health. He develops and applies chromatographic and mass spectrometric methods to characterize phytochemicals and metabolites from medicinal plants, mushrooms (nutritional, medicinal and psychoactive) and dietary supplements.

He is fascinated by the combination of challenging analytical problems, biologically active natural products and clear real-world impact. His work helps answer mechanistic questions while also helping ensure that natural medicines and dietary supplements are authentic, consistent and safe for consumers.

Beyond method development, Katragunta is interested in how metabolomics and high-resolution mass spectrometry can help differentiate closely related plant species, detect adulteration and link specific metabolites to traditional uses. He also enjoys mentoring students and collaborating across disciplines, bringing analytical workflows into projects on medicinal plants, dietary supplements and other natural product-based interventions.