News

On the 4^th of April, 2017, an article was published by Springer from Christel Seegers: "Methyl jasmonate treatment increases podophyllotoxin production in Podophyllum hexandrum roots under glasshouse conditions". Christel wrote this article in cooperation with Rita Setroikromo, Pieter Tepper, Peter Horvatovich, Ron Peters and Wim Quax.

Phodophyllum hexandrum is an important industrial source of podophyllotoxin, which is a precursor of the anticancer drugs etoposide and teniposide. Research is done to obtain podophyllotoxin by cell cultures of chemical synthesis. The research of Christel Seegers is focused on the root formation and the podophyllotoxin production of P. Hexandrum cultivated in a glasshouse. This cultivation was in the glasshouses in the garden of Ron Peters in Klazinaveen. Result of the research is that P. Hexandrum can be cultivated in a glasshouse in The Netherlands and improve the root formation and the podophyllotoxin production. This paves the way for large-scale cultivation of P. Hexandrum for the production of the pharmaceutical interesting podophyllotoxin.