† Prof. Dr. I. Merfort

Prof. Dr. Irmgard Merfort passed away on March 21, 2022.

We lose an enthusiastic scientist and dedicated teacher, who had a lasting impact on many PhD students and undergraduates.

Prof. Dr. G. Layer, Prof. Dr. A. Bechthold and staff of the department

Research Expertises

• Isolation and structure elucidation of natural compounds from medicinal plants of Europe as well as Central and South America and studies on their antiinflammatory and antitumoral activity. Use of the transcription factors NF-kappaB and NF-AT as molecular targets to prove the antiinflammatory activity.
• Study of secondary metabolites from plants for their inhibitory activity of neutrophil elastase.
• Elucidation of the molecular mechanism of antiinflammatory and antitumoral active natural compounds.
• Elucidation of the wound-healing effect of natural products from plants and of plant preparations.
• Structure activity relationship studies and search for leads for the development of potential antiinflammatory drugs.
• Study of the bioavailability of natural products.
• FasL and TNF-induced apoptotic signalling in primary hepatocytes (project funded within the BMBF Hepatosys consortium: Virtual liver).
• Investigations on the biological effects of PM and ashes produced by combustion of biomass (project funded within the EU-Interreg-program: Biocombust)