Deyu Xie’s Laboratory

The research interests in my laboratory focus on understanding the structure and biosynthesis of plant natural products. Currently, my lab is working on flavonoids, terpenes and alkaloids. We are using a combinatorial approach that includes phytochemistry, metabolomics, molecular biology and biochemistry to understand the structures and biogenesis of these compounds. Meanwhile, we are developing the three groups of metabolites as a platform to study the metabolic biology of plant natural products. We are applying our findings to establish metabolic engineering technology to produce novel natural products for pharmaceuticals or modify crop plants to synthesize natural products for biofuel. We are interested in establishing novel approaches to screen for anti-cancer, anti-malaria, anti-virus, and anti-aging natural products.