2015 - International Summer School - Plant Derived Polyphenols as Drug Leads
3 - 10 October 2015
The school is an initiative of the Departments of Chemistry and Biology of the Technische Universität Dresden (TU-Dresden). Using plant derived polyphenols as an example the aim of the school is to bring together all scientific disciplines necessary for the identification, standardization, chemical and biological characterization, as well as pharmacological and toxicological evaluation of traditional medicinal products and single chemicals obtained thereof. Prerequisite for pharmacological and toxicological testing is the availability of sufficient quantities of test chemicals. Therefore the second aim of the school is to provide insight into synthetic Organic Chemistry of natural compounds which represents an integral part of this school.
The participants of the Summer School will become familiar with State-of-the-Art methodology and recent developments of pre-clinical research necessary to identify medicinal plants, to elucidate their chemical constituents, to test for biological activity, to chemically synthesize larger quantities of identified bioactive compounds which are prerequisite for in depth pharmacological pharmacological validation and toxicological assessment of candidate molecules. These methods and tests will be exemplified using flavonoids as an example, which represent a defined class of low molecular weight plant secondary metabolites. They are intensively investigated at TU-Dresden for years and are discussed in the alleviation of menopausal complaints, prevention of adiposity as well as prevention of hormone dependent cancers.
The summer school will cover all steps from the plant to the compounds, which is a multidisciplinary task. The first step, the identification of promising plant material is realized following by ethnobotanical approaches. In a second step, phytochemists will prepare standardized extracts, perform chemical profiling of extracts and identify as well as isolate individual chemical compounds. In a third step extracts and individual will enter a biological screening. The final step comprises validation of biological activities by pharmacological methods and exclusion of potential toxic side effects. This final step requires the synthesis of comparatively large quantities of compounds why it is of crucial importance to include the expertise of synthetic Organic Chemistry into the process. In essence, the whole process reflects an interdisciplinary effort of varies scientific subjects including Botany, Pharmaceutical Chemistry (not available at TU-Dresden), Biology, Organic Chemistry, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Biology, Organic Chemistry, Pharmacology and Toxicology.
The school aims to bring together participants who are interested in one of the areas relevant to the topic of the workshop and who are early in their carrier. Preferentially with a PhD-students, but also junior Postdocs who are in their first two postdoc years should apply.
- Prof. Dr. Andreana Assimopoulou, Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
- Dr. Andreas Biller, Dr. Loges und Co GmbH, Winsen, Germany
- Prof. Dr. Maarten Bosland, Department of Pathology, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
- Prof. Dr. Veronika Butterweck, Institute for Pharma Technology, University of Applied Sciences, Northwestern Switzerland, Muttenz, Switzerland
- M. Sc. Philipp Ciesielski, Organic Chemistry I, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
- Nikoleta Christoforidou, Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Athens, Greece
- Jillian Eskra, Department of Pathology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, USA
- Dr. Clarissa Gerhäuser, German Cancer Research Center, Epigenomics and Cancer Risk Factors, Heidelberg, Germany
- Prof. Michael Göttfert, Institute of Genetics, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
- Prof. Dr. Patrick J. Guiry, Centre for Synthesis and Chemical Biology, School of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University College Dublin, Ireland
- M. Sc. Anton Keßberg, Organic Chemistry I, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
- Dr. Georg Kretzschmar, Institute of Zoology, Technische Universität, Dresden, Germany
- Prof. Dr. Leane Lehmann, Institute for Pharmacy and Food Chemistry, Julius-Maximillians-Universität Würzburg, Germany
- Dr. Thea Lautenschläger, Institute of Botany, Technische Universität, Dresden, Germany
- Prof. Dr. Jutta Ludwig-Müller, Institute of Botany, Technische Universität, Dresden, Germany
- Benjamin R. McDonald, Scheidt Research Group, Northwestern University, Chicago, USA
- Prof. Dr. Gertraud Maskarinec, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, Honolulu, USA
- Martina Naschberger Department for Medicinal Biochemistry, Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria
- Prof. Dr. Christoph Neinhuis, Institute of Botany, Technische Universität, Dresden, Germany
- Tao Qin, Organic Chemistry I, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
- Saravanan Sathasivampillai, Center for Pharmacognosy & Phytotherapy, University College London, UK
- Prof. Dr. Karl A. Scheidt, Department of Chemistry, Department of Pharmacology, and Center for Molecular Innovation and Drug Discovery, Northwestern University, Evanston, USA
- Dr. Daniela Schuster, Institute of Pharmacy, University of Innsbruck, Austria
- Prof. Dr. Hermann Stuppner, Institute of Pharmacy, University of Innsbruck, Austria
- Alexandra Svouraki, Department of Chemistry, University of Athens, Greece
- Prof. Dr. Günter Vollmer, Institute of Zoology, Technische Universität, Dresden, Germany
- Dongdong Wang, Molecular Targets Group, University of Vienna, Austria and Department of Pharmacognosy, Sichuan University, China
- Prof. Dr. Jun (Joelle) Wang, Department of Chemistry, South University of Science and Technology of China, Shenzhen, P. R. China
- Dr. Jannette Wober, Institute of Zoology, Technische Universität, Dresden, Germany
- PD Dr. Oliver Zierau, Institute of Zoology, Technische Universität, Dresden, Germany
The School will be complemented by interactive workshops, excursions and social events
- Epidemiologic Methods in Natural Compound Research
- Natural Compounds from an Industrial Perspective
- Biodiversity and Medicinal Plants
- Prospecting for Medicinal Plants
- From Plant Materials to Chemical Structures
- Scale up from lab to industrial needs
- Organic chemistry of Natural Compounds (Organic Chemistry Day)
- Target identification in silico
- Bacterial targets for plant secondary metabolites
- Cellular, Molecular and Animal Models for Natural Compound Research
- Pharmacology of Mixtures
- Natural Compounds and Epigenetics
- Natural Compounds and Prevention
- Human intervention studies
- Clinical trials