Thesis supervisor: Attila Hunyadi
Location of studies (in Hungarian): Szeged Abbreviation of location of studies: SZTE
Description of the research topic:
Ecdysteroids are herbal analogs of the insect molting hormone, with a complex defensive role against pests. These compounds are, however, known to exert several beneficial (general strengthening, anabolic, adaptogenic, etc.) effects through a non-hormonal, partly understood mechanism in mammals, based on which ecdysteroid-containing food supplements are worldwide available. Moreover, our research group discovered the strong sensitizing activity of certain (mostly semi-synthetic) derivatives on resistant tumor cells. The PhD topic is connected to a complex multidisciplinary research program on the above aspects of these compounds, and it involves their preparation from natural sources, various semi-synthetic modifications, and analyzing the structure-activity relationships. The work involves intensive international collaboration, hence good English language skills are a must.
Required language skills: fluent english Recommended language skills (in Hungarian): fluent english Number of students who can be accepted: 1