Our understanding of the complex nature of our relationship with viruses remain lacking. In response to the necessity for therapeutic strategies against pandemic-causing viruses, studies in our lab provide a better understanding of viral pathogenesis that lay the foundation for improved disease diagnosis, better mitigation strategies and drug and vaccine development. The mission of our lab is to develop virus infection models, serological assays and viral discovery platforms; and utilize them in a vast array of applications including drug testing, vaccine development and disease surveillance.

https://my.theopenscholar.com/atlab

Prof. Duangrudee Tanramluk research experiences, ranging from quantum chemical calculations, protein X-ray crystallography, and software development, has shaped her vision and expertise on how to design tools to solve small molecule drug discovery problems. She choose scientific problems that has big impact on our scientific knowledge and the entire society. To fulfill this objective, She has identified 3 major protein groups, which are the kinases, DHFR, and proteases. Kinases have been implicated in a lot of signaling pathways and human diseases, such as cancer and inflammation. DHFR can be the target protein for several antimicrobial drugs due to its high inhibitor selectivity. In addition, the Main Protease is a major drug target for SARS-CoV-2 antiviral pills.

The research goal is to be able to come up with algorithms that allow for binding affinity prediction to facilitate rational drug design from protein structure coordinates. We are working towards understanding of chemical properties in a rational and interpretable way for inhibitor design. Based on trends of large amount of ligand interactomic distances, shape, and charge complementary in the homologous pockets from structure ensemble, we can now dissect the binding affinity in a human interpretable way for these enzymes.

Her key inventions is around the webservice Manoraa.org systems to assist drug discovery by linking ligand to target proteins, baseline expression, SNPs, pathways, tissues, and organs as featured in Nucleic Acids Research and Structure. By linking these information in this Manoraa ligand design hub, researchers can perform in silico target discovery and ligand design before planing their wet lab experiments. She has also developed algorithms to analyze conserved features obtained from a set of homologous protein crystal structures which can guide inhibitor design. It enables us to compare the shape of the pocket, to observe position specific interactions, and to display chemical interactions in the pocket of the proteins. Several visualization techniques are employed to proposed the three-dimensional pictures of imaginary drug based on Frequently Occurring Atoms as featured in Scientific Reports. The effects from parameters therein, such as the entities that usually participate in hydrogen bond formation, the parts of the pocket that expand or contract upon binding to inhibitors, can be displayed to guide scientists while formulating an inhibitor design strategy.

https://mb.mahidol.ac.th/duangrudee-profile/

  Dr. Thomayant Prueksaritanont is a distinguished scientist and the Director of the Chulalongkorn University Drug Discovery and Drug Development Research Center (CU4DR). With extensive experience in pharmaceutical research and development, Dr. Prueksaritanont specializes in drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics, and translational sciences. Before leading CU4DR, he held key research and leadership roles in the global biopharmaceutical industry, contributing significantly to the development of innovative therapeutics. At CU4DR, she drives collaborative research that integrates academic excellence with real-world applications, fostering advancements in Thailand’s drug discovery ecosystem and mentoring the next generation of pharmaceutical scientists.

https://4dr.chula.ac.th/about/leadership-and-advisory-team/thomayant-prueksaritanont/

Prof. Suree Jianmongkol is a leading Thai pharmaceutical scientist whose research explores the interactions between conventional drugs and herbal medicines. Her studies focus on drug transporters, cytochrome P450 enzymes, and pharmacokinetic mechanisms that influence drug absorption, metabolism, and resistance. She has published extensively on how Thai herbal compounds, such as rhinacanthin-C, modulate P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and affect multidrug resistance in cancer and other therapeutic contexts.

https://ku.ac.th/en/dean-and-director?utm_source=chatgpt.com