A research team led by Prof. Heng Xu and Prof. Xiaoguang Chen discovered novel drug candidates targeting the PI3K pathwayThe phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway is an essential intracellular signal transduction axis that plays a pivotal role in cancer occurrence and development, for which targeting the PI3K pathway is being intensively investigated for cancer therapeutics. Recently, a research team led by Prof. Heng Xu and Prof. Xiaoguang Chen from Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, discovered novel drug candidates targeting the PI3K pathway an...2020-01-09
Stress Protein TRIB3 Supports Breast Cancer StemnessResearchers at the State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College report that the pseudokinase Tribble 3 (TRIB3), a stress sensor in response to various tumor microenvironments or niche rich stressors, play a vital role to support breast cancer stemness. The findings, published on Dec. 16, 2019 Online of Nature Communications, suggest TRIB3 supports BCSCs by interacting...2020-01-09
An Intermolecular hetero-Diels−Alderase in the Biosynthesis of Fungal Meroterpenoids was Discovered and CharacterizedA paper entitled "Enzymatic Intermolecular Hetero-Diels−Alder Reaction in the Biosynthesis of Tropolonic Sesquiterpenes" was recently published online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), one of the top journals in the field of Chemistry. The research leading by Prof. Youcai Hu from the State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, CAMS, cooperated with Prof. K. N. Houk from UCLA reported the discovery and character...2019-09-11
The interaction between TRIB3 and SQSTM1: a new target for the treatment of liver fibrosisAn article published online in Autophagy on July, 9 2019 identifies a new target for the treatment of liver fibrosis. The study, led by Prof. Zhuo-Wei Hu in the State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, reports that disrupting the TRIB3-SQSTM1 interaction reduces liver fibrosis by restoring autophagy and suppressing exosome-mediated HSC activation. The study reve...2019-07-26
Using Microbial Cell Factories for Production of “Unnatural” Ginsenosides with Remarkable Antitumor ActivityRecently, Green Chemistry of the Royal Society of Chemistry published the paper "Construction and optimization of microbial cell factories for the sustainable production of bioactive dammarenediol-II glucosides" (Green Chem. 2019, 21(12): 3286-3299), which was achieved by Professor Ping Zhu's research group affiliated to the State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical Coll...2019-06-28
Prof. Gao"s group developed a novel stimuli-responsive drug delivery system for tumor-targeted therapyRecently, Prof. Gao Zhonggao's group of State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines in the Institute of Materia Medica of Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College has successfully developed a novel stimuli-responsive siRNA delivery system. Taking advantages of the tumor microenvironment, this kind of delivery system was able to realize tumor-targeted therapy. The relevant article “Systemic siRNA Delivery with a Dual pH-Responsive and T...2017-07-22
The molecular mechanism of gut microbiota-mediated personalized treatment of hyperlipidemia using berberine was revealedOn June 26, the molecular mechanism of the gut microbiota-mediated treatment of hyperlipidemia using berberine was published in Theranostics by the laboratory of Professors Jian-Dong Jiang and Yan Wang from the State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines in the Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College. This work made important progress in elucidating the mechanistic details of the treatment of hyperlipidem...2017-06-26
“Trash to Treasure”: Producing Taxol by Enzymatic One-pot ReactionOn May 18th, 2017, the Series Journal of Nature Publishing Group: Nature Communications published online the full article of "Improving 10-deacetylbaccatin III-10-β-O -acetyltransferase fitness for Taxol production", which was achieved by Professor Ping Zhu's research group affiliated to the State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College. The first author is Dr. Bin...2017-05-22
Molecular mechanism of the promiscuity of a new aromatic prenyltransferase was revealedThe transfer of prenyl moieties, as mediated by aromatic prenyltransferases (aPTases), is a ubiquitous reaction in natural product biosynthesis. The prenylation of aromatic compounds and a variety of subsequent tailoring reactions, including oxidation, reduction and cyclization, give rise to a plethora of ‘hybrid’ natural products that exhibit diverse biological properties. In particular, the introduction of prenyl moieties often increases the lipophilicity of these compounds, enhancing their in...2017-04-21
The Biosynthetic Mechanism of Protein Phosphatase-2 Inhibitor Rubratoxin A was ElucidatedFollowing the identification of penicillactones A–C and rubratoxin B in the endophytic fungus Penicillium dangeardii from toxic medicinal plant Lysidice rhodoste gia (Org. Lett., 2013, 15 , 5206–5209), a significant progress was achieved on the biosynthesis of rubratoxins by researchers from the State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines in Institute of Materia Medica Chinese Acadey of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College. Recently, a paper titled...2017-04-05
