Ava Helen Pauling Chair and Associate Director of Research, Linus Pauling Institute
Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy
Contact:
435 LPSC
541-737-9534
[email protected]
Research Interests
Professor Dr. Jan Frederik (‘Fred’) Stevens’ research focuses on the chemistry, biology, and pharmacology of natural products from plants. Trained as a phytochemist and pharmacist at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, he continued to work on natural products at Oregon State University, the Free University of Amsterdam, and at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry in Germany. In 2002, Dr. Stevens joined the faculty at Oregon State University and the Linus Pauling Institute, where he currently holds positions as Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the Ava Helen Pauling Chair, and Associate Director of Research in the Linus Pauling Institute. His research aims to understand how natural products exert beneficial health effects by studying metabolism at a comprehensive level in humans, animal models of disease, and in mammalian cells as well as in microorganisms. His research group pioneered in the discovery of bioactivity of xanthohumol, a natural product from the hops plant, and brought it from the lab bench to phase 1 and 2 clinical trials as a potential drug for treating metabolic and chronic inflammatory disease, such as metabolic syndrome and Crohn’s Disease. Xanthohumol and structurally related prenylated flavonoids remained obscure until his team found them in beer for the first time (1999), discovered that they inhibit cytochrome P450-mediated activation of dietary procarcinogens, thus giving them cancer chemo-preventive properties (2000), and elucidated the biochemical pathways by which xanthohumol slows down carbohydrate and lipid synthesis in rodent models of metabolic syndrome. Dr. Stevens and his team have published over 188 papers, 49 of which report on xanthohumol. His work on xanthohumol has inspired other researchers to investigate xanthohumol and report their findings in over 720 scientific papers to date (2025). Production of xanthohumol has progressed from lab-scale isolation of milligrams by Dr. Stevens (1995) to industrial scale production in kilogram batches for use in animal feeds, nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals, with a global xanthohumol market value currently exceeding $200 million annually. Dr. Stevens and his team have found novel ways to improve the pharmacokinetics and potency of xanthohumol by synthetic modification, for which they are seeking patent awards.
In 2023, Dr. Stevens initiated a project aimed at discovery of non-psychoactive cannabinoids from hemp for pain relief using artificial intelligence. This multi-disciplinary project involves chemistry, biology, engineering, and machine learning. Dr. Stevens collaborates with researchers in the Global Hemp Innovation Center as well as with stakeholders in the hemp industry worth more than $5 billion annually.
More than 90 students, postdocs, and visiting scholars received training and conducted research in Dr. Stevens’ Laboratory. They include exchange students from Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Benin, Gabon, Cambodia, Korea, Japan, and Thailand. Trainees from the Stevens Laboratory secured positions in academia, in industry, at government agencies, or in healthcare professions.
Education
- M.Sc., Pharmacy, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
- Pharm.D., University of Groningen, The Netherlands
- Ph.D., Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
- Postdoctoral training at Oregon State University, the Free University of Amsterdam, and at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Germany
Featured Publications
Jamieson PE, Smart EB, Bouranis JA, Choi J, Danczak RE, Wong CP, Paraiso IL, Maier CS, Ho E, Sharpton TJ, Metz TO, Bradley R, Stevens JF. (2024) Gut enterotype-dependent modulation of gut microbiota and their metabolism in response to xanthohumol supplementation in healthy adults. Gut Microbes.16(1):2315633. doi: 10.1080/19490976.2024.2315633.
Paraiso IL, Mattio LM, Alcázar Magaña A, Choi J, Plagmann LS, Redick MA, Miranda CL, Maier CS, Dallavalle S, Kioussi C, Blakemore PR, Stevens JF. (2021) Xanthohumol pyrazole derivative improves diet-induced obesity and induces energy expenditure in high-dat diet-fed mice. ACS Pharmacol Transl Sci. 4(6):1782-1793. doi: 10.1021/acsptsci.1c00161.
Miranda CL, Johnson LA, de Montgolfier O, Elias VD, Ullrich LS, Hay JJ, Paraiso IL, Choi J, Reed RL, Revel JS, Kioussi C, Bobe G, Iwaniec UT, Turner RT, Katzenellenbogen BS, Katzenellenbogen JA, Blakemore PR, Gombart AF, Maier CS, Raber J, Stevens JF. (2018). Non-estrogenic xanthohumol derivatives mitigate insulin resistance and cognitive impairment in high-fat diet-induced obese mice. Sci Rep. 8(1):613. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-18992-6.
Kirkwood JS, Legette LL, Miranda CL, Jiang Y, Stevens JF. (2013) A metabolomics-driven elucidation of the anti-obesity mechanisms of xanthohumol. J Biol Chem. 288(26):19000-19013. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M112.445452.
Stevens JF, Taylor AW, Deinzer ML. (1999) Quantitative analysis of xanthohumol and related prenylflavonoids in hops and beer by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. J Chromatogr A. 832(1-2):97-107. doi: 10.1016/s0021-9673(98)01001-2.