..Last updated:
. Feb. 10, 2012

The Lange laboratory investigates the biosynthesis of plant natural products (with an emphasis on terpenoids) using functional genomics and systems biology approaches. We are developing mathematical models to quantitatively describe the regulation of metabolic pathways. Our models enable knowledge-based pathway improvements by metabolic engineering.

We are particularly interested in understanding metabolism in specialized plant cell types (such as secretory glandular trichomes and resin ducts), which are responsible for the synthesis of many important essential oils, oleoresins, and pharmaceutically relevant natural products.

Lange Laboratory News:

2012 (Feb. 10)
The Lange laboratory is involved in a collaborative effort to generate and use metabolomics data for the annotation of genes of unknown function in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. A manuscript reporting on discoveries made as part of this project is published online in Frontiers Plant Sci. (WebLink to article).

2012 (Jan. 26)
Mark Lange gives an invited presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Mint Industry Research Council in Las Vegas, NV.

2012 (Jan. 24)
Our manuscript reporting on the rapid and sensitive UHPLC-QTOF-MS analysis of the acetylcholinesterase-inhibiting alkaloid huperzine A in Huperzia species is published online in Biomed. Chromatogr. (WebLink to article).

2012 (Jan. 16)
Lisa Washburn joins us as a Laboratory Technician. She will be working on the recombinant expression and chracterization of enzymes involved in terpenoid biosynthesis. Welcome, Lisa!

2012 (Jan. 12)
Mark Lange gives an invited presentation at the Oregon Mint Convention in Gleneden Beach, OR.

2012 (Jan. 5)
Dan Cuthbertson joins us as a Postdoctoral Associate. He will continue to work on the development of techniques for natural products analysis and metabolomics. Welcome, Dan!

2012 (Jan. 5)
Danyel Tallman joins us as a Laboratory Technician. She will be working on the maintenance and manipulation of plant cell cultures. Welcome, Danyel!

2012 (Jan. 2)
Qunrui Li joins us as a Postdoctoral Associate. She will be working on natural products gene discovery. Welcome, Qunrui!

2011 (Dec. 14)
Mark Lange gives an invited presentation at the 50th Anniversary Meeting of the Phytochemical Society of North America (WebLink) on Hawaii's big island.

2011 (Dec. 12)
Our recent article (in Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA ) on the metabolic engineering of essential oil biosynthesis in peppermint was evaluated by the Faculty of 1000 and ranked among the top 2% of published articels in biology and medicine (WebLink to article).

2011 (Nov. 22)
Our manuscript reporting on the effects of experimental sink removal treatments on metabolic pathways in soybean leaves is published online in Planta. This paper is the product of a collaboration with the Grimes laboratory at Washington State University (WebLink to article).

2011 (Nov. 18)
Mark Lange gives an invited presentation at UC Davis (Graduate Program in Plant Sciences).

2011 (Oct. 31)
Dan Cuthbertson's thesis defense. Congratulations, he is now Dr. Dan!

2011 (Sept. 28)
Our study on the metabolic engineering of essential oil biosynthesis in peppermint is published online in Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (PNAS). This paper is the product of a collaboration with the Croteau laboratory at Washington State University (WebLink to article).

2011 (Sept. 27)
Kerstin Blumenstein and Eva Tervooren join us as visiting students from the University of Bonn, Germany. They are both working on a masters thesis in Food Chemistry. Their work is focused on the development of rapid analytical methods for the analysis of polar intermediates of central carbon metabolism (Kerstin) and various alkaloids (Eva). Welcome, Kerstin and Eva!

2011 (Sept. 15)
Our study on the localization of vegetative lipoxygenases in soybean leaves is published online in Funct. Plant Biol. (FPB). This paper is the product of a collaboration with the Grimes laboratory at Washington State University (WebLink to article).

2011 (Sept. 1)
Chris Mau joins us as a Senior Scientist. He will be working on natural products gene discovery. Welcome, Chris!

2011 (Aug. 22)
Fima Inabuy joins us as a graduate student of the Molecular Plant Sciences graduate program. She is originally from Indonesia and is supported by a Fulbright scholarship. Fima will be working on the biosynthesis of medicinal plant natural products. Welcome, Fima!

2011 (June 13)
Sean Johnson joins us as a graduate student of the School of Molecular Biosciences graduate program. He will be working on the development of bioinformatic tools for analyzing complex analytical data and the mathematical modeling of metabolic pathway regulation. Welcome, Sean!

2011 (June 7)
Lab trip to the mint field day at WSU- Prosser.

2011 (May 23)
The theses of food chemists Julia Kappel and Sarah Schaefer are accepted by the University of Bonn, Germany. Julia and Sarah did her thesis work in the Lange laboratory. Congratulations!

2011 (April 18)
Michael Hartmann joins us as a Postdoctoral Research Associate. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Strasbourg in France, under supervision of Drs. Bach and Rohmer. He will be working on natural products gene discovery. Welcome, Michael!

2011 (April 14)
Mark Lange presents in front of the University-Industry Consortium (which is on its National Germplasm Tour) at WSU.

2011 (April 6)
Max Feldman gives a presentation as part of the Molecular Plant Sciences Seminar Series at WSU.

2011 (March 27-31)
Narayanan Srividya co-organizes a symposium on Biomembrane Mechanics and Dynamics at the 241st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim, CA.

2011 (January)
Mark Lange gives invited presentations at the Oregon Mint Convention in Gleneden Beach, OR, and at the 34th Annual Meeting of the Mint Industry Research Council in San Diego, CA.