The Department of Natural Medicinal Chemistry is one of the key departments in the institute, and one of the most important source suppliers for innovative drug study and development that is characterized by bioactive natural products. The department consists of 50 staff members, including an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 13 full-professors, 12 associate professors, and 19 assistant professors. It is one of the major education and training bases for high-caliber talents in the field of natural medicinal chemistry in China. Currently there are 11 Ph.D. supervisors and 10 M.Sc. supervisors in the department. A total of 25 doctoral and master's students and postdoctoral fellows are enrolled each year.
The main goals of the department are to reveal the chemical properties and characteristics of natural bio-organisms; discover bioactive components from traditional Chinese medicines and other bio-organisms; and provide the material and structural basis for innovative drug research and development aimed at complicated diseases.
The main research fields include the research of natural products for cancer and virus diseases, nerve-system and aging diseases, as well as inflammatory and immune diseases. The study of advanced traditional Chinese medicines, the study of natural medicines derived from animal, fungi and marine organisms, and the study of structural and pharmacological informatics of natural products are also important research contents of the department.
Main research interests:
1) Establishment of efficient and fast discovery platforms for the discovery of biological substances using the most advanced technologies of extraction and separation.
2) Structural modification of biological substances from traditional Chinese medicines by biotransformation and chemical means, in order to prepare new leads with higher efficiency and lower toxicity.
3) Studies of quality control methods and standards for traditional Chinese medicines.
