Flinders University
Indigenous-guided Drug Discovery
Bradley conducts collaborative scientific research with Aboriginal people and their communities from the Cape York Peninsula and South Australia to research the health benefits and medicine properties of native plants which are used traditionally. Currently he is studying the plants for their ability to destroy cancer cells while preserving healthy cells, working to understand what the plant produces that give it medicinal properties.
The research that Dr Simpson conducts in collaboration with Aboriginal people is being used as a way to not only help discover new medicines which may benefit everyone but also helping Indigenous people develop their own businesses on traditional homelands. This research is also helping to preserve the traditional knowledge and culture of the communities he works with for the benefit of future generations.
Along with his collaborations with local Aboriginal communities, based on traditional homelands, he regularly hosts Aboriginal visitors to his laboratory. Bradley was part of a team that received a University of South Australia Chancellor’s Award for Community Engagement (2008) and in 2012 was an invited guest judge for the Primary Industry Centre for Science Education GrowSmart Science Investigation Awards