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Natural compounds as therapeutical leads and chemical tools in system-based drug discovery
Nature provides a fascinating pool of substances for drug development. Our group exploits the potential of natural products regarding two aspects: first they possess an enormous structural diversity serving as privileged therapeutical scaffolds (leads) and second they have proven to be valuable tools for examining cellular processes and for identifying therapeutical targets in signal transduction pathways.
The Vollmar group focuses on two major therapeutical target systems: tumor progression/metastasis and angiogenesis/inflammation. New experimental drugs of microbial, marine, or plant origin are examined for bioactivity in innovative system- based functional models for the respective pathophysiological setting. Importantly, compounds are also used as chemical tools to both elucidate their molecular mechanism of action and to identify new targets and network systems to overcome obstacles and to meet challenges in the treatment of Cancer and Inflammation.