Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine - School of Clinical Pharmacy, Distinguished Researcher.
Research Directions:
Elucidation of biosynthetic pathways of microbial medicinal active molecules and construction of efficient biosynthesis systems, including: revealing the biosynthetic mechanisms of microbial medicinal active molecules from the perspectives of molecular genetics and biochemistry; establishing efficient biosynthesis systems for medicinal molecules through rational reconstitution of biosynthetic pathways; discovering novel enzyme catalytic elements for efficient chemoenzymatic synthesis of medicinal active molecules. The above research projects have received funding from 5 National Natural Science Foundation of China grants, including: 2 General Programs (as Principal Investigator), 1 International Exchange Program (as Principal Investigator), and 2 Overseas Cooperation Funds (as Chinese Collaborator).
Research Achievements:
Elucidated the biosynthetic pathways of multiple important medicinal active molecules and characterized multiple natural molecule biosynthetic enzyme catalytic elements. Representative works include: elucidated the biosynthetic mechanism of the polyketide diester molecular structures of the ovarian cancer selective inhibitor elaiophylin and the anti-tumor stem cell agent conglobatin, providing a basis for combinatorial biological modification of their molecular structures (Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2015, 54, 5232-5; Chem Biol. 2015, 22, 745-754); elucidated the biosynthetic mechanism of the broad-spectrum anti-tumor neoantimycin and identified the biosynthetic origin of its novel structural derivatives with selective anti-colon cancer activity (J Biol Chem. 2020, 295, 5509-5518); discovered a new family of bacterial non-ribosomal peptide cyclases, systematically characterized their active sites and substrate specificity, and revealed their application potential in green chemical synthesis of medicinal active cyclic peptides (Cell Chem Biol. 2019, 26, 737-744.e4); elucidated the key active sites for terpene donor selection of carbazole terpene transferases, providing important reference for the targeted modification strategy of terpene groups in carbazole alkaloids (ACS Chem Biol. 2023, 18, 123-133). Published over twenty papers in mainstream international journals as first or corresponding author, and obtained three authorized patents.
Personal Honors:
Received the 2012 European Union Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship, the 2016 Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission Pujiang Talent Program (Category A), and the 2019 China Ocean Science and Technology Progress Award (5/10).