Scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew are taking the unprecedented step of crowdfunding for pioneering research into one of the most commonly used ingredients in our shopping basket; Aloe vera.
Funds raised through Walacea, the UK's first science crowdfunding platform, will allow scientists to use cutting-edge approaches to unlock the 2,000 year mystery of Aloe vera and enable assessments of the potential of hundreds of other aloes for local industries in the future.
Once rumoured to be a staple in Cleopatra's beauty regime, today the 'gel' from the succulent leaves of the Aloe vera plant is used in an enormous variety of foods and products for health and wellbeing, and supports a natural products industry that is estimated to be worth billions of pounds. But it is how Aloe vera went from wild plant to natural product superstar that is still shrouded in mystery.
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