Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy of Near East University, who was shown amongs the "100 Turks Leading Science“, Prof. Dr. İhsan Çalış's name was given to the newly discovered species of the plant, which is widely known as ”Geven Grass" and of which the scientific name is Astragalus.

According to the press info given by the Near East University Press and Public Relations Directorate, Prof. Dr. Çalış's name was given to the new species discovered in Erzurum by Professor Ali Dönmez who is a specialist on botanics and his assistant Zübeyde Uğurlu to honor the studies carried out for more than 30 years by Prof. Ihsan Çalış on the chemistry of Astragalus species and the new species will hereinafter be referred as "Astragalus İhsancalisii".

"Astragalus İhsancalisii" has taken its place in the world botanical literature under names of Dönmez & Uğurlu as a species peculiar to Erzurum region of Turkey. The article of Prof. Ali Dönmez and his assistant Zübeyde Uğurlu was published in the world-renowned Willdenovia journal, Berlin.

Used in Pharmaceutical Industry
The chemicals and compounds obtained from the Astragalus species are used as a medication for the immune system regulators, diuretic, energetic and anticancer effects. The plant having high antioxidant features is very reach in selenium. Astragalus membranaceus species are used in Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Far East and in Japan. Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria are the main production areas.

Professor Dr. İhsan Çalış: I owe my thanks to my colleagues for giving my name to the newly discovered plant.
Prof. İhsan Çalış stating that he was very pleased for his name given to the new species of Astragalus on which he has been studying for many years, said "The discovery of this species and giving it my name is due to my studies I have carried out on this species and the steps taken in enlightening the chemistry of this species. I am indepted to the authors of the study that gave my name to the plant, Prof. Ali Dönmez and Dr. Zübeyde Uğurlu from Haccettepe University, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Biology."

Prof. Çalış stating that he started his studies on Astragalus species in the 1990s, said that the first chemical studies started when Murat Zor, a doctoral student who served as a doctor at the Gülhane Military Medical Academy (GATA), came up one day with three root pieces of this plant at his hands and components of this plant was used on the blood table of a leukemia patient, revealing positive changes in the blood of the patient.

Almost 100 species of Astragalus plant brought in to the world of science
Prof. Çalış stated that they have extracted almost 100 chemical components from around 20 species of Astragalus and 74 of them were compound in the cycloartan structure and 36 were added to the science as a new compound. I have introduced these studies to more than 20 articles in scientific journals covered by SCI. In addition to phytochemical studies, many different bioactivity studies were examined by other researchers as well as their activity on the immune system. Chemical derivatization and biotransformation studies have been conducted to produce active molecules that enable the activation of the telomerase enzyme as well as derivatives having anticancer activity.