Does nature have the answer? Chinese-Serbian bio-lab investigates

02:31

In downtown Belgrade, behind several huge birch canopies, is Serbia's leading biological institution.

For almost 75 years, scientists of the Sinisa Stankovic Institute for Biological Research have conducted fundamental work. Now, for the first time, they've embarked on new research together with Chinese colleagues. It is a joint Chinese-Serbian bio-lab, the latest addition in a chain of over 50 similar labs worldwide.

Opened over a month ago, the Serbian branch's purpose would be to find the climate limits local plants can accept – and whether those herbs could be used to treat some illnesses.

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"The idea originated from the Chinese President (Xi Jinping)," explains the Institute's assistant director, Momir Paunovic. "There are already many similar labs worldwide, but this one is the first in the Balkans.

"Before the lab opening, we had an extraordinary collaboration with the Chinese colleagues from the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica.”

Inside one of the Institute's labs in hundreds of glass vessels, scientists grow the local plants under artificial light and in various conditions. Rapidly changing world climate affects entire flora, and here the scientists test the temperatures and drought survival limits for each and every one of the spices. They also send the results to Shanghai for joint evaluation with the Chinese colleagues.

But, all those plants and samples scientists collect from the natural habitats all over the region. We've joined one of those expeditions to the nature reserve Carska bara, or the Emperor's Swamp, some 100 kilometers northeast from Belgrade. The expedition hunt the scientists embarked on this time was for one particular plant. Its Latin name is Solanum Dulcamara, a distant relative to our domesticated tomatoes and potatoes. After negotiating some rough swamp terrain, the scientists carefully pick the ripe fruits, the flowers, and the leaves. Some of those would end up as a new plant in the Belgrade lab, and some would end up in Shanghai for further research, as Danijela Misic, Principle Research Fellow of the Institute for Biological Research “Sinisa Stankovic” told us:

“We are traveling all around the Balkan Peninsula, not only in Serbia, but also the other countries, and we collect many plants, like medicinal plants that are also used in traditional medicine, but also in modern medicine, like in the treatment of some illnesses.”

The Chinese and the Serbian scientists hope that at the end of the day, their work would help not only fighting the effects of global warming but also finding cures for illnesses like cancer, diabetes, bacteria infections.