Research Team
Marine Peptide Resource Exploration and High-Value Utilization
Group Profile
The Marine Peptide Resource Exploration and High-Value Utilization Team, established to meet the development needs of key disciplines of The Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou) in response to the national strategy of promoting marine resources protection and development, is dedicated to the development of marine resources. This focus reassures our stakeholders of our commitment to improving the ability of marine resources development and promoting the marine economy to quality benefit demand. Our long-term commitment to biological survival strategy and environmental adaptation mechanism research, exploration of the material basis and molecular mechanism, and new drug research and development of natural active substances, all contribute to the development and protection of marine biological resources and marine economic development.
Research Directions
(1) Research on the survival strategy and environmental adaptation mechanism of marine organisms: The marine environment provides a suitable living space for the survival of marine organisms and, at the same time, restricts their life, growth, reproduction, and distribution. However, with global climate change and the increasing impact of human activities, the survival and diversity of marine organisms face unprecedented environmental challenges. Marine organisms that rely on marine resources for survival can adapt to the environment through diversified survival strategies. The team focused on China's typical marine ecosystems, such as coral reefs, deep-sea cold springs, and seagrass beds in the South China Sea, explored the adaptive potential and adaptation mechanism of various marine organisms, and revealed the mystery of the survival of various marine organisms.
(2) Diversity excavation of natural active substances (mainly peptides) derived from marine toxic animals and unique environments: The diversity of the marine environment determines the diversity of organisms and the diversity of compounds. Marine animal toxins are characterized by vigorous activity, strong specificity, and high structural and functional diversity and have broad prospects in biomedical and molecular biology research and application. The team focused on toxic fish, sea snakes, jellyfish, sea anemones, taro snails, and other toxic organisms in the ocean and systematically studied the molecular diversity and utilization of endogenous toxins.
(3) The novel and strange chemical structure of marine natural products gives them specific biological activity, and as a product of biological adaptability, it has unique biological significance. The team explored the biosynthetic way of active substances in the ocean for their low content and difficult biosynthesis and tried to explore their evolutionary mechanism and related biological significance. Based on the characteristics of structural novelty and the strong effect of marine active substances, the team is committed to exploring and applying more active substances.
(4) New drug research and development based on natural active substances: focusing on the main economic battlefield and the significant needs of people's lives and health, exploring the survival and adaptation strategies of marine organisms as the starting point, and exploring the highly effective active molecules of marine organisms to provide more alternative drug sources for the pharmaceutical industry.
Research Team
Team Member
Gochi Xu
Assistant
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TechnologyRuiyin Guo -
Core researchersAili WangExploration and utilization of Marine animal toxin resources -
Core researchersHui JinResearch on drug resistance mechanism and antimicrobial drug screening for marine polypeptides -
PostdocYi WangResearch on the mechanism of antimicrobial drugs from Marine biological sources -
PostdocQian ChenDiscovery, medicinal function and mechanism of action of marine toxin peppeptide -
PostdocPeng ZhangEnvironmental adaptive evolution of marine mammals
