The main task of our project AVantiLT is to investigate the effect of ingredients from Arthrospira platensis on tumor cells and on healthy cells of the liver.

Arthrospira platensis (AP, colloquially "Spirulina") is a bacterium, but is often referred to as a "microalga". It is known that AP ingredients are able to inhibit the growth of cells from various tumors, while this is not desired for cells from healthy tissue. However, systematic studies on this have been completely lacking so far. Due to the expertise of our research group and the fact that liver cancer is on the rise worldwide and has a particularly poor prognosis, the investigations will be carried out using the liver as an example.

The scientific aim is to test the underlying hypothesis. "Arthrospira ingredient is able to inhibit proliferation of liver tumor cells but does not affect healthy liver cells" to be tested. Using natural product chemistry techniques, we aim to identify the pharmacologically active ingredient in AP extracts and also elucidate the mechanism of action of the AP active ingredient using systems biology and bioinformatics.