Research Area

Our laboratory focuses mainly on discovery and structural elucidation of novel compounds with biological activities from various natural resources, such as termite-associated microbes, Korean wild mushroom and fungi, microorganisms in marine environment, soil fungi and medicinal plants.

Secondary metabolites produced from microorganisms derived from fungus-growing termites are drawing attention in the field of drug discovery, as the exploration of interaction between microbes and insects has recently uncovered a hidden treasure trove of natural products with biological activity and medical relevance. Many diverse insects harbor bacterial allies, which often act as defensive symbionts by producing small molecules that can selectively ward of competitors and pathogens. Those chemical mediators are expected to have gone through extensive evolutionary selection, and therefore might be of high pharmacological potential.

Many Korean wild mushrooms have been reported to have various medicinal activities. These mushrooms have long been used as traditional medicine for the treatment of diverse illnesses. In addition to these edible mushrooms that have ethnopharmacological uses, we have taken our interest into some of Korean wild mushrooms that are known to be toxic or poisonous. These mushrooms have been rarely investigated with regards to their chemical constituents. Thus, in our ongoing efforts to characterize novel natural compounds with interesting chemical structures and/or pharmaceutical activities from Korean wild mushrooms, we have collected mushroom sources and are focusing on discovering structurally novel compounds with biological effects.

Microorganisms in marine environments have been recognized as promising natural sources to explore bioactive lead compounds. Actinomycete, non-actinomycete, and fungi, dominated by three major phylogenetic groups, have been actively investigated to find novel secondary metabolites since 1997. Especially, marine-derived fungi have produced more than 400 new compounds and some of them have shown various bioactivities. As part our continuing endeavor to find novel compounds from diverse natural sources, our group has investigated marine-derived microorganisms and focused on discovering structurally novel compounds with biological effects.

Along with the above-mentioned microbes or fungi, soil fungi are considered to be an important source of chemical diversity and are recognized as new frontiers in the field of natural products research. Soil fungi establish an extremely diverse fungal community and are known to produce structurally interesting and biologically active secondary metabolites. These fungi have thus attracted great interest in the field of drug discovery due to their potential in leading to new medicinal applications.

As plants provide an abundant source of natural compounds with diverse medicinal properties, they have long been recognized as the most important source of natural products with pharmaceutical applications. Many plants have already been used in Asian traditional medicine; however, there are still many of them that have not been chemically investigated thoroughly. In order to reveal the phytochemical relevance of the plants regarding their ethnopharmacological uses, as well as to discover novel constituents with biological activities, we continue to endeavor in focusing on the phytochemical evaluation of plants that are relatively uninvestigated.