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)