Can 5000-year-old natural Chinese medicines be used to treat 21st-century health challenges such as type 2 diabetes, schizophrenia, cancer and obesity?
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In a quest to answer that controversial question, the University of Wollongong has joined forces with a major Chinese pharmaceutical corporation.
NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell this week witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between UOW and Chengdu Di'ao Group while in China on a week-long trade mission.
Under the agreement, researchers from the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute will work with the Chinese firm to see if traditional Chinese medicines can be modified for modern times.
UOW Pro Vice-Chancellor (Health) Professor Don Iverson said the medical research had exciting implications for Western and Chinese medicine.
"We will be investigating natural Chinese medicines and remedies that have been used in China for up to 5000 years," he said.
"The Di'ao Group has access to over 1000 of these medicines and will do the initial screening to identify which ones have been shown throughout Chinese history to work most effectively.
"We will then study those natural products in the lab to work out what makes them so effective, and to see how we can modify them to increase their effectiveness.
"Initially we are focusing on how they may help in the treatment of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, then we will look into conditions like schizophrenia, obesity and some cancers."
Wollongong traditional Chinese medicine practitioner Andrew Whittaker has welcomed the partnership and believes "Western medicine and Chinese medicine have to converge".
The Lotus Health and Wellbeing Centre practitioner saw the benefits of that merger when his mother was battling cancer a decade ago.
"Chinese medicine was used as part of her recovery treatment - now she's healthy and a cancer survivor," he said. "That's what made me shift from a science degree to my qualifications in traditional Chinese medicine."
Mr Whittaker said Chinese medicine could be used to treat "the range of human conditions" from the common cold to infertility, digestive and skin conditions and chronic injury.
The battle between East and West has raged in recent times, with a group called Friends of Science in Medicine calling on universities earlier this year to close many complementary medical courses and stick to science.
However, Prof Iverson is excited to be hosting representatives from the Di'ao Group in Wollongong later this month.
As well as the medical research, UOW mining engineering researchers will work with Di'ao's mining division to develop automated underground coal extraction technologies under the agreement.
There will also be discussions on Di'ao establishing a research and development centre at the Innovation Campus.
