Daniela Tovar-Miranda
Staff Writer
Dominican chemistry Professor Brent Friesen is a part of research team that found evidence that cannabidiol, CBD, may help combat COVID infections in human cells and in mice.
The study, published Jan. 20 in Science Advances, found that small doses of CBD, equivalent to the approved dosage for severe epilepsy, blocked COVID cells from making copies of themselves due to the anti-inflammatory protein interferon in CBD.
The research did not show any indication of CBD preventing COVID infection. The research also cautioned that the effects of CBD come only from a high-purity, specially formulated dose. The senior author was Marsha Rosner, professor at the Ben May Department for Cancer Research at the University of Chicago.
Friesen recently discussed his contribution.
“We mostly provided the chemicals that they were working with; the drugs and CBD and that was our contribution to the process,” said Friesen. “We did the chemistry part, which is the isolation of compounds from natural sources and analyzing compound purity and then she did a lot of the biological work. The activity, essays, in vitro, and some series of experiments in rats for clinical data.”
Before becoming a part of Rosner’s study, Friesen was researching several chemical compositions of CBD such as CBD oil, CBD plus hemp oil, full spectrum CBD, and broad-spectrum CBD with a group of researchers at the University of Illinois College of Pharmacy, where he is an adjunct assistant professor.
The researchers were then contacted by Rosner’s lab to collaborate on the research due to their work with cannabis and CBD.
“Science is a highly collaborative enterprise, so there was a group at the University of Chicago with Marsha Rosner who was the lead investigator. She was trying to pivot and do something that would be helpful for treating COVID. Rosner knew about our paper and she knew we were in Chicago so we started consulting with her,” said Friesen. “There’s 23 authors in the paper so that’s a huge effort and a lot of people involved.”
The research for the UIC study was published Jan. 6. Friesen co-authored it with Takashi Ohtsuki, Shao-Nong Chen and Guido F. Pauli, who all worked at the University of Illinois (UIC) together.
As an undergraduate, Friesen majored in chemistry at Bethel College and later pursued a doctorate in organic chemistry at the University of Minnesota. In between, Friesen lived in Africa researching herbal medicine, and focused on being a natural-products chemist.
Friesen has worked at Dominican since 1999 and in addition to his UIC research also works with students on Dominican’s campus. Junior Efren Gonzalez-Cortez, who is a chemistry major, is working as a research assistant working with Friesen using an extraction technique to separate biomolecules such as proteins and enzymes.
“Working under Dr. Friesen’s guidance has helped me achieve many valuable skills that I will continue to evolve during my undergraduate experience and beyond,” said Gonzalez-Cortez in an email statement. Gonzalez-Cortez will be presenting the research he is working on under Friesen later this semester at (G)URSCI & Experiential Learning Expo.
