We’re happy to announce that QantX have completed an investment into Watercress Research, a pioneering startup developing processes to extract clinically useful products from the peppery salad leaf, watercress (Nasturtium Officinale).
Watercress, a member of the Brassica plant family which includes mustard seed and wasabi, has long been considered a superfood with its superb antioxidant profile and high fibre content. Isothiocyanates produced on mechanical disruption of the watercress cell, have been shown to have anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties. Watercress Research can now extract and harness these volatile molecules.
In a complimentary process, Watercress Research are creating bacterial urease-inhibiting and ammonia scavenging products from watercress, to treat a range of clinical conditions where ammonia is implicated as a virulence factor, including incontinence associated dermatitis (ie nappy rash), struvite kidney stone propagation, and the survival of the pathological Helicobacter Pylori bacteria in the stomach. Watercress Research offers a portfolio of natural products spanning cosmetics, food & drink and potentially pharmaceuticals.
Watercress Research was founded by Dr Kyle Stewart a practicing GP, and Paul Winyard, Professor of Experimental Medicine at the University of Exeter, combining their respective knowledge of clinical medicine and pathophysiology biochemistry to understand how Watercress phytochemistry can be manipulated in human health and disease.
We’re excited to join Kyle and Paul on this journey as they scale up the production of the extract, targeting continence products as an initial commercial application, with an extraction facility on the outskirts of Exeter.