PhD defence Z. (Zheng Jane) Guan

Exploring natural products: from herbal resources, microbial synthesis to animal models

Nature serves as a valuable reservoir of resources with significant implications for human health and medicine, holding immense potential and mysteries. Among these resources lies the ancient civilization of Chinese medicine, which boasts a rich heritage spanning five thousand years, yet remains largely unexplored and incompletely understood. Preserving ancestral secret recipes is imperative to harnessing the potential of nature and upholding the legacy of traditional Chinese medicine. The thesis of Zheng Guan aims to develop a toolkit for unraveling the mechanisms in the near future through existing knowledge of the secret recipe, with a specific focus on investigating the inhibitory effects of flavonoids and terpenoids derived from wild plants on viral envelope synthesis and cholesterol modulation within the body. Thus, shedding light on the treatment of viral hepatitis and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The study encompasses three key facets: exploration of plant-based alternatives containing flavonoids and phenolic acids, development of a biotechnological strategy utilizing Bacillus subtilis biosynthesis for the production of squalene and other terpenoids, and the construction and examination of a gerbil model of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease induced by a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet. These comprehensive investigations have established a combination of robust methodologies, enabling further exploration of secret recipes and the potential of nature in promoting human health.

Promotores Prof.dr. W.J. Quax and Prof.dr. G.J. Poelarends