Larsson, Sonny
Job TitleResearch phytochemist
DepartmentJodrell
SectionSustainable Uses Group
Science Teams:
Joined Kew: 2008
Foreign Language(s): swedish (mother tongue), basic french
Qualifications & Appointments
Pharmacist (MScPharm), Uppsala Univ., 2001
PhD, Pharmacognosy, Uppsala Univ., 2007
Senior Lecturer in Pharmacognosy, Luleå Univ. of Technology, 2007–2008
Role
Investigation of plant chemical characters for authentication, quality assessment and biological activity for medicinal or cosmetical use.
Using in vitro-bioassays to investigate potential mode-of-action of plant extracts, in combination with chemical studies to identify responsible compounds. Using chemical data, such as spectroscopical finger-printing, to assess the identity of crude material before or after formulation into a product. Investigating chemosystematic relationships of used plants to identify appropriate species for use.
Selected Recent Publications
- El-Seedi, H.R., El-Ghorab, D.M.H., El-Barbary M.A., Zayed, M.F., Göransson, U., Larsson, S. & Verpoorte, R. (2009). Naturally occuring xanthones; latest investigations: isolation, structure elucidation and chemosystematic significance. Current Medicinal Chemistry 16: 2581-2626.
- Larsson, S. & Backlund, A. (2009) On the identification of allergens of Thaumetopoea sp. Allergy 64: 493.
- Larsson, S., Backlund, A. & Bohlin, L. (2008) Reappraising a decade old model for pharmacognosy. Phytochemistry Letters 1: 131-134.
- Larsson, S. (2007) The “new” chemosystematics: phylogeny and phytochemistry. Phytochemistry 68: 2903-2907.
- El-Seedi, H.R., Larsson, S., & Backlund, A. (2005) Chemosystematic value of cyclopeptide alkaloids from Heisteria nitida (Olacaceae). Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 33: 831-839.
