The latest cannabis innovation in the brew stems from a unique partnership between BCIT, UBC and a private cannabis company, Pacific Rim Brands.
Dr. Paula Brown, director of BCIT’s Natural Health and Food Products Research Group (NRG) and Canada Research Chair in Phytoanalytics, and Dr. Susan Murch, who teaches chemistry at UBC Okanagan, have partnered with Pacific Rim Brands, a Kelowna-based integrated cannabis company, to develop beverage formulas containing cannabis extracts.
Like any new sector, the science and formulation will be the most important element to ensure consistency, scalability and trust,” says Brown. “There is a lot of work to be done to develop stable, high-quality, consistent cannabis formulations that consumers can use with confidence.”
Dr. Murch’s research investigates the chemistry of plants and how plant chemistry affects human health while Dr. Brown investigates plant chemistry and works with the natural products industry to develop new products, establish standards of quality and ensure regulatory compliance. Together, their partnership with Pacific Rim allows them to develop safe and high-quality cannabis beverages for health, wellness and leisure.
“This collaboration is an opportunity to conduct more research about the chemicals in cannabis and at the same time, conduct research on products that can be brought to markets across Canada and globally,” says Kim Dotto, Dean of Applied Research at BCIT.
Learn more about other projects from BCIT’s Natural Health and Food Products Research Group.
This story first appeared in UBC Okanagan News, November 26, 2018 with credit to Nathan Skolski.