Bernd Markus Lange

Biological Chemistry
Harnessing Natural Product Biosynthesis to Produce Better Crops and Pharmaceuticals

Bernd Markus Lange

Plants produce a diverse array of metabolites—commonly referred to as secondary metabolites, specialized metabolites, or natural products—which do not appear to be directly involved in growth and development, and often play more elusive roles in the communication of plants with their environment. Plant natural products are usually better known for their utility as dyes (indigo), flavors and fragrances (essential oils), and drugs (taxol, morphine).

The Lange laboratory uses various integrative approaches to understand how the biosynthesis of natural products—which is often restricted to specialized tissues or cell types—is regulated. These efforts enable molecular breeding and targeted metabolic engineering approaches to improve the nutritional value of crop plants and to use plants as hosts for the production of small molecule pharmaceuticals.

Current projects in the Lange laboratory focus on three main areas. The Murdock Metabolomics Laboratory—which provides bioanalytical services to WSU laboratories and the wider academic community—uses a combination of microsampling techniques, ultra high resolution chromatography, and mass spectrometry to develop rapid and sensitive assays for quantifying a wide range of natural products. Dr. Lange directs that laboratory.

The Lange laboratory also combines mathematical modeling and experimental testing to calculate flux distributions in the pathways that synthesize particular natural products, building on data generated with microarray and metabolomics platforms. For example, the lab uses the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana to study how the communication between two independent precursor pathways (one in plastids, one in the cytosol) affects the balance of specific isoprenoid end products.

Finally, glandular trichomes on peppermint leaves synthesize enormous amounts of isoprenoid essential oils. Using metabolic engineering, the biosynthesis of essential oils can be blocked, so the lab is attempting to redirect the biosynthetic flux into the production of pharmaceutically relevant isoprenoids, for example, the antimalaria drug artemisinin.

Contact Information
Bernd Markus Lange, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Institute of Biological Chemistry
Center for Integrated Biotechnology

Washington State University
P.O. Box 646340
Pullman, WA 99164-6340

Telephone: 509-335-3794
E-mail: lange-m@wsu.edu

Health and Life Sciences

Bernd Lange

Dr. Bernd Markus Lange is an assistant professor at the Institute of Biological Chemistry and the Center for Integrated Biotechnology at Washington State University. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in chemistry from the University of Bonn, and his Ph.D. in botany from the University of Munich. Dr. Lange held postdoctoral positions with Dr. Lutz Heide at the University of Tübingen and with Dr. Rodney Croteau at Washington State University. Subsequently, he led research teams in the biotechnology industry at Novartis Agricultural Research Institute Inc., with Torrey Mesa Research Institute of Syngenta, and with Diversa Inc. Since moving to WSU in 2004, Dr. Lange has developed capabilities for the high throughput analysis of plant metabolites and is now directing the newly established M.J. Murdock Metabolomics Laboratory.

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