Dr. Swapna is under contract with The Experiment as a full time employee. Dr. Swapna Gannabathula has a proven track record for her work on identifying essential components in (Manuka) honey. She has been involved in multiple research projects that were patented at the intellectual property office of New Zealand. Namely;
Patent 599435: Immunostimulatory compositions and methods of manufacture. More specifically, the compositions includes a combination of arabinogalactan 5 protein (AGP)compounds, particularly those derived from honey or with similar activity to honey derived AGP’s along with apisimin proteins, peptides or fragments thereof, particularly those derived from royal jelly or with similar activity to royal jelly derived apisimin.
Patent 587642: Use of a composition in the manufacture of a medicament to inhibit yeast growth (wherein the yeast is from the genus Candida particularly a strain of Candida albicans), wherein the composition includes:a therapeutically effective amount of lactoferrin; anda therapeutically effective amount of either: (a) at least one active honey; or (b) at least one bioactive fraction of active honey wherein the monosaccharides of the honey have been removed; or (c) at least one honey analogue containing monosaccharides, water and either or both of DHA and MGO and having at least one further characteristic being: a pH of 3.0 to 5.0; hydrogen peroxide; phenolics characteristic of active honeys; bee defensins; catalase enzyme; a water activity less than 0.7; or (d) combinations of the honey, the honey fraction and the honey analogue,wherein “active honey” refers to a honey with an antimicrobial activity in the absence of hydrogen peroxide referred to interchangeably as a honey containing UMF activity, MGO activity or containing DHA compound.
Patent 585118: A honey isolate containing type II arabinogalactan (AG), wherein the average molecular weight of the AG is 40,000 to 1,100,000 is disclosed, wherein the ratio of arabinose to galactose in the honey isolate may range from 0.1 to 2.0 parts arabinose to 1.0 parts galactose. Further disclosed is a method of producing a honey based immune-stimulatory composition by the steps of: (a) testing a series of honey batches for the presence of type II AG compounds; (b) selecting and blending together honeys based on the test results; and (c) isolating type II AG compounds from the honey and then processing the honey by steps selected from filtration, ultra-filtration, reverse osmosis, solvent extraction, precipitation, or combinations thereof and collecting a high molecular weight isolate from the processing step to form a honey blend with type II AG levels greater than 5 microgram/gram. The disclosure also relates to the use of a honey or a honey analogue based composition with type II AG compounds removed from the honey or a honey analogue in the manufacture of a topical formulation for treatment of a recalcitrant skin condition on a topical body area, a sensitive skin condition on a topical body area.
She is currently a research associate at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) for 2 PhD students, and co-supervises other PhD students.
