Biography
Biography: Shengxi Jin
Abstract
Research on medicinal cannabis has been hampered by its legal status as a narcotic. However, the recent legalization in North America regarding the use of medicinal cannabis necessitates standardized phytochemical composition for commercial products in the interest of consumer safety and medicinal efficacy. The first step towards utilizing medicinal cannabis as a reliable mainstream medicine is cannabis cultivar distinction based on two main groups of medicinal ingredients: cannabinoids and terpenes. We have recently developed and validated GC-MS and HPLC-UV methods for quantifying dozens of phytochemicals characteristic to commercially-available cannabis strains. We are applying these analytical methods to profile cannabinoids and terpenes in cannabis strains and, together with PCR, to correlate chemotaxonomic and genetic information. The results will contribute to the establishment of an industrial standard for phytochemicals in commercially-available cultivars in support of a continuously-growing market.