320133 PR Cell based methods in pharmacognosy (2010W)

This lab course aims to provide insight into cell-based assays and methods used in pharmacognostic research as applied e.g for bioguided fractionation or the elucidation of the molecular mechanism of a natural compound. Next to a short theoretical introduction participants will get hands on experience in testing a natural compound for its anti-inflammatory activity (using a cell-based assay to assess NO-production in macrophages), for its impact on the expression level of a protein of interest (using western blot analysis) and for its effect on cell cycle progression (using flow cytometry).