The Natural Products and Medicinal Chemistry Research Group focuses on marine natural products, medicinal chemistry, and bioanalytical chemistry. The group aims at developing novel lead compounds and formulations that can be used as future drug treatments for bacterial infections and cancer, which are diseases that affect thousands of people worldwide. The group's research also includes the development of novel -omics technology that can be used in diagnostic and personalized medicine (PM). The group uses advanced high-resolution LC-MS (liquid chromatography – mass spectrometry) in the fields of lipidomic and metabolomic to identify unique biomarkers for the development of novel diagnostic tools for disease detection and treatment. Overall, the Natural Products and Medicinal Chemistry Research Group aims at making a significant impact on society by developing new treatments for bacterial infections and cancer, as well as advancing diagnostic and personalized medicine through the use of -omics technology.
The group's Masters, PhD, and postdoc projects involve the synthesis of novel antimicrobial and anticancer peptides and peptidomimetics inspired by molecules from the sea (marine bioprospecting), investigations of bioactive molecules by NMR spectroscopy (nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy), inventive drug formulations, and lipidomic and metabolomic studies of clinical patient samples by high-resolution LC-MS.
Research focus natural products and medicinal chemistry:
Design and synthesis of peptides and peptidomimetics with antimicrobial, antibiofilm and anticancer activity, and inspired by antimicrobial peptides and marine natural products.
Lead-compound identification, structure activity-relationship studies, and mode-of-action studies.
The group has an automatic microwave assisted peptide synthesizer, and offers master and PhD projects in the field of amino acid, peptide and peptidomimetic synthesis together with biological studies in collaboration with external partners.
Research focus bioanalytical chemistry:
Lipidomic and metabolomic studies, and targeted quantification of small molecules from biological samples. The main focus of the lipidomic and metabolomic studies are investigations of clinical samples, including all steps from sample preparation to the understanding of biological relevance.
The research group is part of the Proteomics and Metabolomics Core Facility (PRiME) at UiT, and has access to UPLC-instruments with advanced low- and high-resolution mass spectrometers.
The group offers master and PhD projects in advanced analytical chemistry and in collaboration with external partners.
The research group has interdisciplinary projects within medicinal chemistry, bioanalytical chemistry, structure elucidation by NMR and MS, and drug formulation and delivery studies.
(Revised: October 23. 2023)
JOB DESCRIPTION
Terje Vasskog is research group leader for the Natural Products and Medicinal Chemistry Research Group. He is an Associate Professor in analytical chemistry at the Department of Pharmacy, UiT the Arctic University of Norway. His research involves development of new bioactive peptides, as well as mass spectrometry based structure elucidation of such peptides, and for the last few years he has been working with global metabolomics and lipidomics both within health related research and carbon capture technology.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
1) Structure elucidation and bioactivity optimization of disulphide rich peptides
2) Global metabolomics and lipidomics
3) Method development for targeted and untargeted LC- and GC-MS/MS analyses
RESEARCHGATE: Terje Vasskog
ONGOING RESEARCH PROJECTS
Structure elucidation, bioactivity screening and optimization of disulphide rich peptides
TROMBOLOME: The Tromsø study metabolome
Mapping antimicrobial resistance through a mass spectrometry (MS) based multi-omics approach
TEACHING
Bachelor level
Far-2302 Pharmaceutical Analysis - Course Manager
Master level
Far-3301 Advanced Pharmaceutical Chemistry - Lectures and lab course
Far-3311 Advanced Analytical Chemistry - Course Manager
Far-3312 Advenced Practical Analytical Chemistry - Lab course
PhD level
Far-8311 Advanced Analytical Chemistry 2 - Lectures
Far-8312 Advanced Practical Analytical Chemistry 2 - Course Manager
JOB DESCRIPTION
Morten B. Strøm is Vice-dean Research and Innovation at the Faculty of Health Sciences. He is a professor in medicinal chemistry at the Department of Pharmacy, Natural Products and Medicinal Chemistry Research Group. His research involves development of peptides and peptidomimetics with activity against resistant bacteria and with activity against cancer cells. Together with other research groups at UiT we are studying how these molecules can be developed into future drug candidates and drug formulations. This has given important experience with innovation, patents, and commercialization.
Professor at the Natural Products and Medicinal Chemistry Research Group.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
1) Design, synthesis and development of antimicrobial and anticancer peptides and peptidomimetics as lead-compounds for drug-development and investigation of pharmacophore models.
2) Design and synthesis of peptidomimetics and bioactive scaffolds for optimization of potency and pharmacokinetic properties.
3) Isolation and structural elucidation of marine bioactive compounds from Arctic and sub-Arctic marine invertebrates and synthesis of marine natural product mimics (marine bio-prospecting).
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1973-0778
PhD student supervision
Supervision of master students
I have since 2003 been supervisor for 31 master students in pharmacy / medicinal chemistry / organic chemistry.
I have broad scientific interests within various applications of NMR spectroscopy, from small molecules to proteins. Structure/activity relationship studies are of particular interest (x-filtered transfer experiments, hydration, relaxation, dynamics).
I have been working with NMR since 1998, using both Bruker and Varian/Agilent equipment. Working experience includes structure and dynamics studies of Nucleic acids and Proteins, structure verification/elucidation of small molecules in pharmaceutical industry and natural products from bioprospecting, including absolute configuration, as well molecular interactions with proteins and lipid systems.
Job description:
Assoc. Prof. in the Natural products and Medicinal chemistry group (80%), Dept. Pharmacy, and Senior Researcher in the Chemical synthesis and analysis group (20%), Dept. Chemistry. Leader of the UiT NMR lab, which is a node in the Norwegian NMR Platform (NNP), and manager of the analytical platform SmallStruct.
Teaching:
FAR-2301 Medicinal chemistry - course manager
FAR-3301 Advanced analytical chemistry - course manager
Other teaching activities: Course manager for KJE-3301/8301 NMR spectroscopy, KJE-8305 Advanced NMR spectroscopy, KJE-2003 Analytical chemistry. Teaching contributions in the BioStruct and BioCat research schools on protein folding and protein dynamics.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Lisa Myrseth Hemmingsen is a member of the Natural Products and Medicinal Chemistry Research Group at the Department of Pharmacy at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. Currently, she holds a temporary position as Associate Professor focusing on research in multidisciplinary projects and teaching in chemistry-related courses at BPharm, MPharm, and PhD level. She has a PhD in pharmaceutical technology and her research projects involve targeted analytics and development of pharmaceutical formulations for antimicrobial compounds in treatment of infected, chronic wounds.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
1) Pharmaceutical technology
2) Nanotechnology
3) Lipid- and polymer-based drug delivery systems
4) Drug delivery of antimicrobial compounds
5) Targeted analytics
RESEARCHGATE: Lisa Myrseth Hemmingsen
ORCID: Lisa Myrseth Hemmingsen
TEACHING
Bachelor level
FAR-1302 Pharmaceutical organic chemistry (Course leader)
Master level
FAR-3311 Advanced Analytical Chemistry
FAR-3312 Advanced Practical Analytical Chemistry (Course leader)
PhD level
FAR-8311 Advanced Analytical Chemistry 2 - (Course leader)
FAR-8312 Advanced Practical Analytical Chemistry 2
Other teaching experiences
FAR-1101 Introduction to pharmacy
FAR-1301/1401 Physical pharmacy
FAR-2401 Basic pharmaceutical production
FAR-2402 Pharmaceutical formulation and biopharmacy
FAR-3202 Pharmacokinetics
JOB DESCRIPTION
Trude Anderssen is affiliated with the Natural Products and Medicinal Chemistry Research Group and teaches at various chemistry-related laboratory courses for pharmacy students. She provides in-house training in HSE for new students/employees at the research group.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
She assists on various research projects, including toxicity testing of synthesis products.
TEACHING
Teaches laboratory courses in the following subjects:
FAR-1302 Pharmaceutical Organic Chemistry
FAR-2301 Medicinal chemistry and natural products chemistry
FAR-2302 Pharmaceutical analysis
Teaching in following subjects:
FAR-1302 Pharmaceutical Organinc Chemistry,
FAR-2301 Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products Chemistry
FAR-2302 Pharmaceutical Analysis
JOB DESCRIPTION
Agnethe Hansen Bæverud is a Research Scientist in the Natural Products and Medicinal Chemistry Research Group at the Department of Pharmacy at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. Her research projects are focused on exploiting the potential of marine resources as a solution to sustainable value creation in industrial waste management, with the overall scope of transition towards green, circular economy. Her work contributions include analysis of biomolecule composition through global/targeted metabolomics/lipidomics.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
1) Analysis of marine organisms
2) Pigment analysis
3) Global/targeted metabolomics and lipidomics
4) Method development for LC- and GC-MS/MS analyses
RESEARCHGATE: Agnethe Bæverud
ORCID: Agnethe Bæverud
ONGOING RESEARCH PROJECTS:
BMFishFeed – project description in progress
TEACHING:
Master level:
FAR-3312 Advanced Practical Analytical Chemistry - Lab course
- Computational mass spectrometry
- Forensic HRMS drug screening
- Untargeted metabolomics
Ongoing projects at UiT:
Principal investigator of the multi-disciplinary research project, TROMBOLOME (€1.4 mio funded by the Norwegian Research Council), with the objective to improve data workflows for large-scale untargeted, metabolome data. We aim to build a (structured query language) SQL database of untargeted metabolome data from population study biobank samples, and then combine the biochemical insights from metabolite profiles with health registry data to identify risk markers for acute myocardial infarction. This will improve insight in pathophysiological mechanisms behind and stratification for people at risk for acute myocardial infarction.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Torbjørn Norberg Myhre is a member of the Natural Products and Medicinal Chemistry Research Group at the Department of Pharmacy at UiT - The Arctic University of Norway. His research projects are focused on the development and validation of methods for a SQL database of untargeted metabolome data from population study biobank samples.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
1) Untargeted metabolomics
2) Global/targeted metabolomics and lipidomics
3) Method development for LC- and GC-MS/MS analyses
4) Semi-quantification in high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS)
ONGOING RESEARCH PROJECTS
TROMBOLOME - TROMsø study metaBOLOME is a project that aims to build a SQL database of untargeted metabolome data which can be used with registry data of participants to uncover metabolic patterns associated with myocarial infarction, and as such improve the insight of the pathology of this disease.
TEACHING
Bachelor level
FAR-1302 Pharmacetical organic chemistry
FAR-2301 Medicinal chemistry and natural products chemistry
FAR-2302 Pharmaceutical Analysis
Master level
FAR-3311 Advanced Analytical Chemistry
FAR-3312 Advanced Practical Analytical Chemistry - Lab course
PhD level
FAR-8311 Advanced Analytical Chemistry 2
FAR-8312 Advanced Practical Analytical Chemistry 2 - Lab course
JOB DESCRIPTION
Marita P. Syltern is a member of the Natural Products and Medicinal Chemistry Research Group at the Department of Pharmacy at UiT - The Arctic University of Norway. She is a PhD student investigating differences in the metabolomic profile of resistant and sensitive E. coli strains through non-targeted LC-MS approach.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
1) Cultivation of microorganisms
2) Acquired antimicrobial resistance mechanisms
3) Method development for LC-MS
4) Non-targeted and targeted metabolomics
5) Multi-omics approaches and data interpretation
TEACHING:
Bachelor level:
Far-1302 Pharmaceutical Organic Chemistry
Far-2301 Medicinal chemistry and natural products chemistry
Far-2302 Pharmaceutical Analysis
Master level:
Far-3311 Advanced Analytical Chemistry
Far-3312 Advanced Practical Analytical Chemistry - Lab course
Job Description:
Marit Huizer is currently pursuing her PhD and is a part of the research group Natural Products and Medicinal Chemistry. Her research work is specifically focused on lipid and pigment analysis of marine microalgae and bioactivity studies. All of this is being done under the AlgScaleUP project.
Research Interests:
ORCID: Marit Huizer
ResearchGate: Marit Huizer
Job Description:
Sandra Pfeffer is part of the research group Natural Products and Medicinal Chemistry. Her research work focuses on phase II metabolism studies of endogenous steroids and their applications in doping control analysis.
Research Interests:
- Mass spectrometry
- Clinical proteomics
- System biology
- Metabolomics, metabonomics
- Quantification of small molecules, including endogeneous and exogeneous compounds, metabolites, amino acids etc.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Jon Våbenø has an Associate Professor II (20%) position at the Department of Pharmacy, UiT the Arctic University of Norway, in addition to his main position as a research scientist/leader at Helgeland Hospital Trust.
He has a medicinal chemistry background and a general interest in all steps of the drug discovery process, i.e. hit identification, hit-to-lead strategies, and lead optimization.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
His main research interest is pharmacological modulation of the complex chemokine system, which represents attractive drug targets for inflammatory/immunological diseases, cancer, and virus infections:
1) Understand/explain the activation pattern on the molecular level:
2) Exploit this knowledge to develop:
TEACHING
Bachelor level
FAR-2301 Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products Chemistry – Lectures and seminars
Master level
FAR-3301 Advanced Pharmaceutical Chemistry - Lectures and computerlab
The Natural Products and Medicinal Chemistry Research Group teaches and conducts research within two scientific disciplines: medicinal chemistry and pharmaceutical analytical chemistry. Medicinal chemistry comprises design and synthesis of bioactive compounds with potential as new drugs, as well as structure-activity studies. Pharmaceutical analytical chemistry comprises qualitative and quantitative analyses of biological compounds based on chromatographic, mass spectrometric, and spectroscopic methods.
Julie Strømberg "Structure elucidation and bioactivity screening and optimization of disulfide rich peptides"
Marita Perez Syltern "Mapping antimicrobial resistance through a mass spectrometry based multi-omics approach"
Marit Huizer "AlgScaleUp - converting industrial greenhouse gases to valuable biomass"
Torbjørn Norberg Myhre "Trombolome - Development and application of a comprehensive digital archive of the Tromsø study metabolome"
Danijela Simonovic (2023) - Synthesis and structure-activity relationship studies of marine-derived antimicrobial peptides and small cyclic peptidomimetics. https://hdl.handle.net/10037/29375
Lorenz Göschl (2022) - Discovery and detection of phase-II metabolites of exogenous steroids in anti-doping analysis. https://hdl.handle.net/10037/24767
Joseph Diab (2020) - The Metabolome and Lipidome of Ulcerative Colitis. https://hdl.handle.net/10037/19449
Armin Schniers (2019) - The proteome of ulcerative colitis. https://hdl.handle.net/10037/15810
Stine Høgetveit Hansen (2023) - Synthetic Peptide Analogues of Turgencin A:
Optimization of Antibacterial Activity and Elucidation of Disulfide Connectivity by Sequential Alkylation and Mass Spectrometric Analysis
Magnus Andersland Antonsen (2023) - Mass Spectrometry Based Metabolomic and Lipidomic Analyses of Algal Biomass
Rasmus Pedersen (2023) - Athlete biological passport (ABP) and longitudinal Steroid Profile: New metabolites, sportspesific and other factors that can cause variations.
Johannes Kristensen (2023) - Synthesis, bioactivity testing, and structure elucidation of antimicrobial peptide analogues derived from Synoicum Turgens
Johannes Frydenlund (2023) - Alterations in the metabolomic profile of Escherichia coli following experimental resistance evolution to ciprofloxacin
Gøril Laugsand (2023) - Using High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry to identify lipids in marine bacterial biomass
Bielul Haileab (2023) - Endringer i den metabolske profilen hos Escherichia coli ved utvikling av trimetoprimresistens
Agnethe Hansen Bæverud (2022) - Mass cultivation of the marine diatom Porosira glacialis: Method development and comparison of pigment composition in response to irradiance wavelength
Amalie Rebekka Nyborg (2022) - Isolation and characterization of secondary metabolites from Arctic, Marine Invertebrates
Kristine Haugland (2022) - Identification and semi-quantitative analysis of lipids in the diatom Porosira
glacialis
Hemmingsen, L.M.; Giordani, B.; Paulsen, M.H.; Vanić, Ž.; Flaten, G.E.; Vitali, B.; Basnet, P.; Bayer, A.; Strøm, M.B.; Škalko-Basnet, N. Tailored anti-biofilm activity – Liposomal delivery for mimic of small antimicrobial peptide. Biomaterials Advances, 2023, 145, 213238, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioadv.2022.213238.
Dey, H., Simonovic, D., Norberg-Schulz Hagen, I., Vasskog, T., Fredheim, E.G.A., Blencke, H.-M., Anderssen, T., Strøm, M.B., Haug, T. Synthesis and Antimicrobial Activity of Short Analogues of the Marine Antimicrobial Peptide Turgencin A: Effects of SAR Optimizations, Cys-Cys Cyclization and Lipopeptide Modifications. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2022, 23(22), 13844. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232213844
Paulsen, M.H.; Engqvist, M.; Ausbacher, D.; Anderssen, T.; Langer, M.K.; Haug, T.; Morello, G.R.; Liikanen, L.E.; Blencke, H-.M.; Isaksson, J.; Juskewitz, E.; Bayer, A.; Strøm, M.B. Amphipathic Barbiturates as Mimics of Antimicrobial Peptides and the Marine Natural Products Eusynstyelamides with Activity against Multi-resistant Clinical Isolates. J. Med. Chem. 2021, 64, 11395. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c00734
General approach to determine disulfide connectivity in cysteine-rich peptides by sequential alkylation on solid phase and mass spectrometry Analytical Chemistry 2016 DOI
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