Introduction

It is known that marine organisms have become an important source of bioactive compounds and candicates for development of new drugs. We have constructed a series of cDNA libries of specific tissues from various marine organisms, such as hippocampus, sea snake, sea anemone and conus snails. Some important genes encoding potential pharmacological peptides have been identified, include eight novel sea snake toxins, five cardiac peptides from sea anemone and nine conotoxins from C.litteratus.

Research Areas

1.Identification of novel genes encoding potential therapeutic peptides from marine organisms.

2. Recombinant expression and preclinical research of potential therapeutic peptides.

3. Research on the structure and function of marine toxins.

       
Computer-simulated structure of conotoxins

4.Elucidation of the targets of these marine toxins and their function mechanisms.

       
Effects of lt5d on sodium channels