My research focuses on the discovery and functional analysis of peptides from plants and other natural sources, involving the (i) identification and isolation of peptides via transcriptome- or genome-mining, and by peptidomics, (ii) determination of peptide structure by molecular biology, mass spectrometry, and NMR spectroscopy, and (iii) pharmacological characterization and preclinical evaluation of nature-derived molecules as novel pharmaceuticals. Besides answering fundamental question about the biology and chemistry of circular and disulfide-rich peptides from plants and insects, my research outcomes in the past years contributed significantly to understanding their biological function, their pharmacological mode-of-action and their application for drug design and development of therapeutic leads.