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Alumnus discovers centuries-old cure for modern ailments

By Tom Vogel
January 2, 2007

Eric Buenz '99, who majored in chemistry and biology while at St. Olaf, is gaining attention for his research into centuries-old herbal medicine that has potential as a modern-day antibiotic. A recent article in the Star Tribune describes how Buenz, while a graduate student at the Mayo Clinic, came across a cure for diarrhea in a 17th-century book he found at a botanical library in Hawaii. After testing, Buenz and a colleague discovered that the potion, made from the nuts of the atun tree, was effective in killing various types of bacteria.

Buenz, who now owns his own research company called BioSciential in Rochester, Minn., went to Samoa to collect the nuts and talk to shamans. Since then Mayo and Buenz have obtained a patent on the medicinal properties of the atun tree nut. Should the cure become a successful drug, Buenz says the profits would be shared with the Samoan healers who aided them.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.