中央研究院 生物化學研究所

Marine natural products are one of most interesting research topics to have been investigated during the last five decades worldwide. They exhibit a wide variety of biological activities and biofunctions. Impressively, some of marine natural products and their derived analogues have been clinically used to treat human diseases. In Taiwan, the research on marine natural products were initiated in 1980’s since the Department of Marine Resources was established in National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU), Kaohsiung. Besides, Taiwan, as well as nearby islands such as Penghu islands and Dongsha Atoll, locates on the north part of Coral Triangle in Pacific Ocean. The biodiversity of corals attracted the pioneers in NSYSU on the research of marine natural products of soft corals. Till now, the fundamental research on the marine natural products of soft coral and other marine organisms have been established in Taiwan. Moreover, some of those marine natural products are further developed as wound healing and neuroprotective agents for commercial uses. In recent years, more recruits joined us to extend our research in the field to marine microorganisms by cooperation with the global natural product social molecular networking (GNPS) in UCSD as the de-replication strategy. In the talk, I would like to introduce the past and the present marine natural products research in Taiwan and to promote our research on marine natural products by cooperation with UCSD. -廖志中博士