Current Chinese Science

Prof. Dr. Wei Wang is National Talent Program Candidates of China, Furong Distinguished Professor of Hunan Province, China, director of TCM and Ethnomedicine Innovation & Development International Laboratory of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Executive Editor of Current Traditional Medicine (Bentham Science). He received his Ph.D. degree from Peking University in 2006. He had worked in National Center for Natural Products Research, University of Mississippi from 2007 to 2012. He and his group focus on the isolation and discovery of novel bioactive natural products from Chinese medicine or other ethnomedicine, design of new analytical chemistry methodology and innovation on targeting and increasing efficiency of bioactive products of Traditional Medicine. He has more than 150 SCI publications and 10 patents.

Professor Chuanjun Song obtained his PhD from Cardiff University, UK in February 2006. After 3 years’ postdoc at Bristol, UK, he joined the faculty of College of Chemistry at Zhengzhou University in 2008 as an associate professor, and was promoted as a full professor in 2014. His research interest mainly focuses on total synthesis of bioactive natural products, development of new synthetic methodologies, and design and synthesis of pharmaceutically active molecules. Until now, he has published more than 70 academic papers, written 1 book and 4 book chapters, filed 3 patents. He acts as a regular reviewer for more than 20 chemical and medicinal journals. His contribution was recognized by many awards including the Baogang Excellent Teacher Award, 2018, the State Natural Science Award (Second Prize), 2017, the Science and Technology Progress Award of Henan Province (First Prize), 2016, the Academic and Technical Leader of the Education Department of Henan Province, 2013”, and the “Youth Science and Technology award of Zhengzhou City, 2013.

Dr. Xiukun Lin graduated from the Peking Union Medical University with a doctoral degree in 1996. After graduation, Dr. Lin came to the Yale University Medical School for his post-doctoral study. In 2002, Dr. Lin, worked as professor in the Qingdao Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Science. From 2003, he has been working at the Capital Medical University as a full professor. Dr. Lin has published more than 100 peer reviewed articles and 3 scientific books. He is now a Standing Member of the Association of Chinese Anticancer drugs and the editorial board member of the Acta of Pharmaceutics.

Dr. Xinghong Yang is currently a Professor of College of Life Sciences, Shandong Agricultural University. Yang's main scientific research interests include photosynthesis and stress biology, including physiological and molecular changes of photosynthesis in conditions of abiotic and biotic stress factors (such as drought, high temperature and salt stress) and protection mechanisms in plants coping with stressful environments. They also use molecular tools and genetic transformation methods to study the plant behavior in conditions of environmental fluctuations and the mechanism to enhance plant stress tolerance. He has published almost 55 research papers and his documents have more than 1717 citations.

Dr. Nianyun Yang received his PhD degree in Pharmacognosy from China Pharmaceutical University in 2005. His research interests focus on bioactive constituents of traditional Chinese Medicine and natural medicine and several of his projects have been funded. He has published over one hundred papers, ten state grade patents, ten published books edited. These innovations have won several national and provincial-level science and technology progress awards.

Dr. Niranjan Koirala, Nepal born researcher earned his Ph.D. from South Korea (2016) and Postdoctoral fellowships from UNAM, Mexico (2018) and UM, Macau SAR (2020). His interest is in the field of biochemical and pharmaceutical engineering, pharmaceutical/medicinal/analytical chemistry, natural products drugs discovery, secondary metabolites, flavonoids and anti-infective agents. He is the recipient of Nepal Bidhya Bhushan “A” award from the honorable President of Nepal (2016), young scientist award (2016), best PhD thesis award (2016), several best oral and poster presentations, and several other research accolades. He has published above 40 original articles in reputed peer-reviewed journals and holds 4 issued South Korean patents. He is serving in several national and International indexed journals as the journal editor and editorial board member. He is the lifetime member of Biotechnology Society of Nepal, member of Phytochemical Society of Asia and International Association of Dietetic Nutrition and Safety. He has delivered 20+ invited lectures in 10 different countries and has h-index 14 as of 2020.

Dr. Mohammed El Hattab is developing research on the chemistry of natural products and their valorisation. His work mainly concerns the chemical analysis of essential oils and extract of marine and terrestrial organisms as well as the determination of their biological activities. His research also focuses on the screening of bacterial strains and their use in various aspects of biotechnology. In particular, his team has isolated strains from marine algae and used them in the biotransformation of monoterpenes. Recently, studies on nanosystems of natural products are also being carried out.

Prof. Dr. M. Iqbal Choudhary is a Distinguish National Meritorious, Director at International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (H. E. J. Research Institute of Chemistry and Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research) and Coordinator General COMSTECH (Organization of Islamic Cooperation Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation). He is among the most prominent scientists of Pakistan, recognized for his original contributions in the fields of natural products and bioorganic chemistry. He has written and edited 76 books, most of which have been published in the USA and Europe. He is also the author of over 1,094 research papers and chapters in top international science journals of the West, as well as 55 US patents. The cumulative impact factor of his publications is over 2,270. This is by far the largest number of quality publications from any scientist in Pakistan. He has been among the most cited scientists of Pakistan in last five years with citations exceeding 27,200 (h-Index: 68). He is the Volume Editor of many international book series and journals. He has served as a visiting faculty in many prestigious universities of the world, including Cornell University (New York), Purdue University (Indiana), Pennsylvania State University (Pennsylvania), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (San Diego, California), The University Rhode Island (Rhode Island) and various top Universities of UK, China, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, and Iran.

Prof. Hui-Jun Li was born in 1975 in Hubei Province, China, and received his PhD in Pharmacognosy in 2003. Since then he started his research and teaching career at China Pharmaceutical University. His main research interest focuses on 1) discovering novel quality control methods and elaborating quality standards for Traditional Chinese Medicines and, 2) identifying toxic compounds from hepatotoxic herbs and disclosing the underlying mechanism. He is the author of more than 60 scientific publications.

Li Qin, M.D, Ph.D, Professor, Director of Division of Stem Cell Regulation and Application. Her research field is pharmacology of Chinese Medicine. To date, Prof Li has undertaken more than 20 national, provincial and ministerial projects including 4 projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. She has published more than 60 papers in domestic and foreign journals, including 24 papers cited in SCI as the first/corresponding author. Prof Li won the 19 th Sino- French Servier Young Pharmacologist Award and Hunan Youth Science and Technology Award, etc.

Professor Rong-Rong He, also honored as the Distinguished Professor of Pearl River Scholar, the Distinguished Young Scholar of China, etc. The main research interest of her group has been focusing on the theory of “Emotion Causing Diseases” in TCM. Using the concept of "disease susceptibility", she has established and improved a series of emotional stress models to investigate the biological mechanisms of “Emotion Causing Diseases”. Besides, the models are used to evaluate the effect of Chinese medicinal formula and their active ingredients. She has contributed to over 140 SCI articles, 60 more of which are the first author or corresponding author.

Emphasis of my research is placed on new phytohormonal assay methodology and phytohormone action mechanisms. We are currently a) developing highly sensitive new assay based on biosensors for potential real time and in situ analysis of phytohormones. b) Revealing the phytohormonal action mechanisms of seed germination, especially the role of phytic acid and its interaction with phytohormones. c) Bioinformatics.

Dr. Zhou Shuiping, Executive Director of the Tasly Academy, Professor-level Researcher/M.D. has organized more than 200 new drug product projects, as the project leader, obtained 6 new drug marketing approvals including Shaoma Zhijing Granules, Tadalafil, Danshen Capsules (EU traditional use registration), as well as 31 IND approvals. Selected as the first level of Tianjin "1 31 " innovative talents in 2011, Tianjin Outstanding Contribution Experts in 2015, and the Government special allowance expert of the State Council in 2018. Obtained 162 authorized patents (70 PCTs); published 143 scientific articles (25 SCIs) and 4 monographs.

Dr. Zhang Weidong, is a Vice Dean of School of Pharmacy and the Chief Director of the Department of Phytochemistry at the Second Military Medical University. His major achievements were made in the field of bioactive natural products discovery for therapeutic applications, chemical biology of natural products and innovative drug discovery from TCM. Honored with the National Outstanding Young Scientist Foundation of China, Professor of Chang Jiang Scholars program, Ten Thousand Talents Program, Wu Jieping-Paul Janssen Prize for Medical Pharmacy, Qiushi Outstanding Youth Scientist Award and the Government special allowance expert of the State Council. He gained the second prize of National Scientific and Technological Progress Award three times and the first prize of Shanghai Scientific and Technological Progress Award twice. Obtained 47 authorized patents (2 PCTs); published 573 scientific articles (530 SCIs) and 2 monographs.

Dr. Xiong Cai graduated from Hunan University of Chinese Medicine (HUCM) in 1998 with a B.Sc. in Pharmacy of Chinese Medicine and earned his Ph.D. degree in Pharmacology of Chinese Medicine from Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) in 2006 under the mentorship of Chinese Academy of Engineering’s member Prof. Liang Liu. Dr. Cai pursued his postdoctoral training in molecular biology and genetics at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes of Health (NIH) from 2006 through 2010, and then became a senior Research Fellow with his research focused on translational medicine and research. In September 2012, Dr. Cai came back to HUCM and joined the Institute of Innovation and Applied Research in Chinese Medicine as the deputy director. Dr. Cai's research is now focusing on R & D of innovative botanical drugs for rheumatic and arthritic diseases (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis). Dr. Cai has authored or co-authored more than 45 peer-reviewed papers including those published in Am J Respir Critic Care Med (IF16.494), Chest (IF9.657), Phytomedicine(IF4.18). Dr. Cai’s research contribution has been recognized by multiple awards, including the National Science & Technology Progress Award of China (2012) and the NHLBI’s “Orloff Science Award” (2016, 2012). Dr. Cai has also been honored by election to Hunan Furong Distinguished Professorship and Hunan Provincial 121 Training Project for Innovative Talents, as well as serving the Specialty Committees of Diagnostics and Immunology of TCM of World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies (WFCMS) as executive members.

Dr. Yonghong Liu obtained his BS and MS degrees from the Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Jilin province, China, and then he went to Korea and received a PhD degree from the Pusan National University, Busan, Korea under the guidance of Professor Jee H. Jung. He undertook postdoctoral research with Nobutoshi Murakami at Osaka University, Osaka, Japan and Pedro Abreu at the New University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal, before returning to China to take a position as a senior scientist in 2006 at the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Currently, he is working as vice-director of Guangdong Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica. He has authored more than 300 peer reviewed articles, served as editorial board members of 3 SCI journals: Natural Products Research, Medicinal Chemistry, and Chemistry & Biodiversity, awarded 7 national and provincial prizes, and held 30 issued patents. He engaged in discovery of new bioactive natural products from marine microorganisms to develop anti tumor drugs.

Dr. Amar Chittiboyina holds an appointment as Assistant Director at the National Center for Natural Products Research, University of Mississippi. He has a broad background in organic chemistry, with specific training and expertise in medicinal chemistry, natural products, and analytical chemistry. Dr. Chittiboyina holder of several national, international patents has contributed to book chapters on natural products, medicinal chemistry as well as quality and safety assessment of phytochemicals in various matrices.

Prof. De-an Guo is a Professor at Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Director of National Engineering Laboratory for TCM Standardization Technology and Director of Shanghai Research Center for Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He has focused his research on modernization of traditional Chinese medicine for more than 30 years and established an research model for analysis of active components of TCM and constructed a holistic quality control system for TCM, which have been successfully applied in Chinese Pharmacopoeia, United States Pharmacopoeia and Europe Pharmacopoeia for the herbal standards. He has published over 450 papers in SCI cited journals with over 9000 SCI citations.

Dr. Zhengren Xu obtained his Ph.D. degree from Peking University in 2011 working on the total synthesis of natural products. From 2011 to 2014, he joined Prof. Jieping Zhu’s group at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) as a postdoctoral research associate, and continued working on natural product total synthesis. From 2014 to 2018, he moved to the Scripps Research Institute as a postdoctoral research associate in Prof. Ben Shen’s group, and worked on the natural product discovery and biosynthesis. In 2018, he took up an assistant professor position at Peking University with research interest in natural product synthesis using biocatalysis as an important tool.

Dr. Jixun Zhan is a full professor in the Department of Biological Engineering at Utah State University. He received his Ph.D. training from East China University of Science and Technology and Beijing University, and conducted postdoctoral training at the University of Arizona and the University of California, Los Angeles. His current research is focused on metabolic engineering and natural product biosynthesis. Dr. Zhan’s work has led to the publication of more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals such as PNAS and JACS.

Dr. Tahir Rasheed is currently working as a researcher at Interdisciplinary Research Center for Advanced Materials,King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia. He completed his Ph.D. degree and postdoctoral research in Polymer Chemistry from the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. His research interests focus on multiple disciplines including controllable synthesis, characterization and self-assembly of polymeric materials, polymer-based composites, nanomaterials & nanocomposites, hybrid nanocomposites, with special emphasis on their potential applications in the field of sensing and biosensing, electrocatalysis, degradation and quantification of various emerging pollutants and energy storage devices.

Dr. Yow Yoon Yen earned her PhD in Algae Biotechnology from the University of Malaya. She currently serves as Senior Lecturer at the Sunway University. Her research focuses on the discovery and development of new compounds from algae as nutraceutical candidates in the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases. She is also working on the application of algae in cosmeceuticals and its anti-microbial and anti- cancer properties. She served as Secretary of the Asia-Pacific Phycological Forum 2017. She was awarded the GlobalSeaweedSTAR Travel Fund from the UK Research and Innovation – Global Challenge Research Fund (2018), and Outstanding Woman in Science (Biotechnology) by the Venus International Foundation (2019).

Dr. Bo Liu, Ph.D.，Professor, the director of Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Chirality Research on Active Components of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the Principal Investigator of the Team of Chemical Research and Structural Optimization based on Chinese Materia Medica, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine. He has published more than 65 research papers and held 17 patents.

Dr. Manzoor Ahmad Rather is currently working as Assistant professor in Department of Chemistry, Islamic University of Science and Technology, Awantipora, Kashmir, India. He received his Ph.D degree in 2014 from the Department of Chemistry, University of Kashmir and in collaboration with Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Canal Road-Jammu-India. He has been awarded with Young Scientists Award (YSA) in the field of chemical sciences for the year 2012 awarded by J&K State Council for Science and Technology, Department of Science and Technology, Govt of Jammu and Kashmir-India. He was selected for Senior Research Fellowship (SRF) in Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, IIIM Sanat nagar in 2012. In view of his expertise, he is currently serving as editorial board of Phytomedicine and technical editor for International journals of pharmacology and research journals of medicinal plants. He has published more than 30 publications in journals of international repute with total citations of 896.

Dr. Kanika Patel is an Assistant Professor in the discipline of Pharmacology and having Industrial experience in clinical Pharmacology division in India. Her research interests are focused on screening of drugs in reference to CNS disorder and antioxidant studies with a particular emphasis on natural products used in diabetes and its complications. She is an author of 40 papers published in peer review journals and many book chapters to her credit and has a good citation index. She is a reviewer for various international scientific journals and also awardees of various International travel grants.

Dr. Bin Li, Ph.D., master's tutor, a researcher from the School of Pharmacy in the Hunan University of Chinese Medicine. She obtained her Ph.D. from Hunan University of Chinese medicine in 2014, majoring in traditional Chinese medicine. To date, she has undertaken about 15 national, provincial and ministerial projects including 2 projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and has contributed to over 20 SCI articles. Her research focuses on medicinal chemistry of natural products chemistry and bioactive compounds of TCM and ethnomedicine.

Dr. Kaifeng Hu is a principal investigator at Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China since 2018. He graduated from Beijing Medical University, and then received his M.S. degree in Natural Products Chemistry at Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ph.D. degree in 2004 in Solution NMR from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich (ETH), Switzerland. His expertise and fields of research interest include: Metabolomics, Structural Biology, Natural Products Chemistry and Bioactive compounds of TCM, and method development by integrating NMR and LCMS for qualitative and quantitative analysis of complex mixture.

Dr. Yuqing Jian, Master's tutor, a researcher from the School of Pharmacy in the Hunan University of Chinese Medicine. He graduated from Hunan University of Chinese medicine with a Bachelor of Science in 2009. Then, he received his M. S. in natural medicine chemistry from China Pharmaceutical University in 2012. In 2015, He obtained his Ph.D from Jinan University, majoring in traditional Chinese medicine. His research focuses on the isolation, structure elucidation of novel natural products, bioassay of the obtained compounds, and the plausible biosynthetic pathway of novel bioactive products.

Dr. Wenbing Sheng graduated from Hunan University and earned her Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry in 2016. Dr Sheng focuses on Green organic synthesis methodology, total synthesis of natural products, and structural modification of natural products. She has authored or co-authored more than 20 peer-reviewed papers.