Vores gruppe forsker i biokemien og biosyntesen bag planternes værdifulde specialiserede metabolitter, nærmere bestemt terpenoider. Terpenoider anvendes af planter til forsvar og tilpasning. Derudover udnyttes de også af mennesker, eftersom mange af dem har vist sig at være effektive i behandlingen af en lang række lidelser.

Vores arbejde fokuserer på identifikation, udredning og karakterisering af planteterpenoiders biosynteseveje og udvikling af platforme til heterolog fremstilling af værdifulde bioaktive stoffer. Vi anvender principperne i kombinatorisk biokemi og sigter mod at udvikle diterpenoider, der er hidtil ukendte i naturen og har unikke, ændrede eller forbedrede farmakologiske egenskaber.

Find mere information om gruppen i menuen under billedet.

Forskningstemaer

  • Elucidation of the biosynthetic pathways of plant produced bioactive diterpenoids. We are engaged mainly with medicinal plant species such as Coleus forskohlii (target compound: Forskolin), Vitex agnus-castus (target: dopaminergic compounds), T. wilfordii (target: Triptolide), Euphorbia lathyris and Euphorbia peplus (Target: ingenol-3-angelate pathway), Eremophila spp. (target: serrulatanes) and Ginkgo biloba (target: Ginkgolide diterpenoids).
  • Combinatorial biochemistry by mixing and matching biosynthetic modules/enzymes from different species, in plant or yeast cells, to identify structural analogs or new-to-nature diterpenoids.
  • Light-Driven biosynthesis of high-value diterpenoids by introducing elucidated terpenoid biosynthetic pathways into green cells such as cyanobacteria, algae or moss. This enables production driven by sunlight as the only energy source. Done in collaboration with Poul Erik Jensen’s Group at PLEN, UPCH.
  • Sustainable production of diterpenoids: Through techniques of synthetic biology, we are introducing functional biosynthetic pathways in scalable heterologous hosts (e.g. yeast).
  • Regulation of diterpenoids biosynthesis: We study the factors that regulate terpenoids biosynthesis at molecular and biochemical level. Forskolin pathway is used as model where structural and functional roles of the forskolin metabolon components are studied.
For students wishing to work within these topics,. M.Sc. and B.Sc. projects are currently available. Please contact eipa@plen.ku.dk

Forskningsprojekter

Publikationsliste


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    Partnere og netværk

    • Professor Poul Erik Jensen, Department of Plant and Environmental Science, University of Copenhagen
    • Professor Ulrik Gether, Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen
    • Dan Stærk, Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen
    • Dr Mike Bayly, University of Melbourne, Australia
    • Bevan Buirchell, Wise Owl Consulting, Perth, Australia
    • Dr Susan Semple, University of South Australia, Australia
    • Evolva A/S
    • Assoc. Professor Sotirios Kampranis, Department of Plant and Environmental Science, University of Copenhagen
    • Professor Albert Boronat, University of Barcelona