Actions and mechanisms of natural products
Chronic inflammation is at the heart of many diseases, including metabolic disorders, liver pathologies, and cancer. In this context, we investigate the molecular mechanisms and targets of natural products and phytopharmaceuticals, with particular focus on lipid metabolism and lipid signaling. Promising candidates are pharmacologically characterized, further developed and transferred to pre-clinical studies in collaboration with laboratories experienced in phytoextraction, organic chemistry, bioinformatics, pharmaceutical technology, and animal physiology. We are particularly interested in polypharmacological agents that favorably modulate lipid (mediator) profiles.
Tran et al., 2021, Acta Pharm. Sinica A
Team: Felix Benscheidt, Julia Grander, Ehsan Bonyadirad, Solveigh Koeberle, Zhigang Rao, Lorenz Waltl
Subprojects
- Molecular pharmacological characterization of natural products, plant extracts and phytopharmaceuticals to target inflammation, protect against xenobiotic-induced tissue injury and counteract drug resistance
Understanding the molecular mechanisms of natural products at the interface of inflammation, cancer and lipid signaling - Discovery, mode of action and development of biogenic small molecules that induce ferroptosis in (drug-resistant) cancer
- Elucidating silymarin's mechanism of action in metabolic liver diseases and evaluating its potential to overcome chemoresistant cancer
- Metabololipidomics profiling of plasma samples from subjects in a Phase I clinical trial (AgnuKin)
