Pharmacognosie
A central theme for our studies is the discovery and characterization of cancer chemopreventive and antiparasitic agents from various natural and synthetic sources.
The main interests of the ongoing research are:
- To identify natural products with anticancer activity.
- To characterize the mechanism of action of compounds that inhibit carcinogenesis, mainly in multiple myeloma and lung cancer, by studying cellular pathways and cancer hallmarks, such as proliferation, angiogenesis, migration, and invasion.
- To rationally optimize the molecules regarding their activity and selectivity.
- To identify plant extracts and natural products with antiparasitic activity against Chagas disease, malaria, leishmaniosis and sleeping sickness.
Our ultimate goal is to understand how compounds act in vitro and in vivo.