美國「國家輔助及另類醫療中心」（NCCAM）預計在5年間提供600萬美元給芝加哥大學醫學中心，協助其對於具抗癌特性的西洋參（American ginseng，又稱花旗參、粉光參）進行相關研究。
這筆基金將用來建立結腸直腸癌的草藥研究中心（Center for Herbal Research on Colorectal Cancer）──NCCAM今年所成立的四大卓越研究中心之一；而NCCAM則是美國聯邦政府研究輔助療法及另類醫藥科學的領航機構，也是美國國家衛生研究院（National Institutes of Health，NIH）的一個機構。
新研究中心的研究人員將使用科學技術來研究草藥療法，他們將研究不同配方的西洋參、三七參等，在對抗腫瘤方面有何功效。這些人參被廣泛的使用，但是藥草療法對於疾病有何正面療效的相關研究卻是少之又少，包括如何預防和治療結腸癌。
研究中心主任暨專任教授袁鈞蘇、芝加哥大學麻醉及重症護理中心唐教授（Cyrus Tang）共同表示：「美國至少有1/3的成年人使用某些種類的營養補充品，而且他們大部分都會食用草本食物，如西洋參等，來補充或替代傳統的醫藥療法。然而，我們到現在對於這些產品如何作用、何時能發揮最大功效以及是否對健康有益的認知還是相當有限。」
「科學上對於藥草的研究『尚處於萌芽階段』，而且遠遠落於目前對於生物科技的研究風潮之後。鑒於我們對於藥草的廣泛使用，運用當代的研究原則和研究技術來研究草藥療法現在正是時候。」
結腸直腸癌是前三大最常見的癌症，而且也是美國第二大可能導致死亡的癌症。如果能及早發現，就能成功治癒，但是對於末期的結腸直腸病患治癒率則較低。
袁鈞蘇是在草藥療法研究領域公認的專家，同時也是芝加哥大學唐氏藥草療法研究中心（Tang Center for Herbal Medicine Research）主任，他將和該中心科學家一起合作，針對三個不同但卻又相關的專案進行研究，主要針對抗腫瘤特性的活動，以及二種不同種類的西洋參其發揮作用的方式和組成成分進行研究。
專案一：由袁鈞蘇領軍，將研究西洋參殺死癌細胞的能力，並確定西洋參的組成成分當中是哪個部分具此項能力。
專案二：由外科專任副教授何通川領軍，研究重點在於如何將西洋參當中能改變腫瘤細胞的成分粹取出來。
專案三：由本‧梅癌症研究中心（Ben May Department for Cancer Research）副教授杜維（音譯）博士領軍，將專注於如何利用西洋參內部訊號來控制細胞的成長和死亡。
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine has awarded $6 million over five years to the University of Chicago Medical Center to study the anti-cancer properties of American ginseng.
The funds will be used to create the Center for Herbal Research on Colorectal Cancer, one of four new centers of excellence funded by NCCAM this year. The federal government's lead agency for scientific research on complementary and alternative medicine, NCCAM is one component of the National Institutes of Health.
Researchers at the new center will apply scientific techniques to the study of herbal medicine. They will study the anti-tumor effects of different preparations of the herbs American ginseng, Panax quinquefolius, and notoginseng, Panax notoginseng, which are widely used but little-studied herbal therapies for a variety of ailments, including prevention and treatment of colon cancer.
"At least one-third of adults in the United States use some sort of dietary supplement and many of them take herbal remedies, such as ginseng, to supplement or substitute for conventional pharmacotherapy," said center director Chun-Su Yuan, M.D., Ph.D., the Cyrus Tang Professor of anesthesia and critical care at the University of Chicago, "yet we know very little about how, when or even if these products are beneficial."
Scientific investigation of herbs is "still in its infancy," he said, lagging far behind current trends in biomedical research. "Considering their widespread use, the time has come to apply contemporary research principles and techniques to the study of botanical medications."
Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. If detected early, it can be successfully treated, but patients with advanced colon cancer have a poor prognosis.
Yuan, a recognized expert in herbal medicine studies and director of the University of Chicago's Tang Center for Herbal Medicine Research, will work with Tang Center colleagues on three separate but interrelated projects designed to characterize the anti-tumor activities and mechanisms of action of the two types of ginseng and their active constituents.
Project 1, led by Yuan, will study the ability of ginseng to kill cancer cells and identify herbal constituents responsible for tumor cell death.
Project 2, led by Tong-Chuan He, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of surgery, will focus on how ginseng extracts alter gene expression in tumor cells.
Project 3, led by Wei Du, Ph.D., associate professor in Ben May Department for Cancer Research, will concentrate on how ginseng manipulates the internal signals that cells use to regulate cell growth and cell death.
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