Professors

Research activities in this laboratory heavily involved in drug discovery of diverse diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, atherosclerosis, fatty liver disease, osteoporosis, and infection, and mimicking physical workout based on marine natural products as a platform. Our research scope covers from isolation and cultivation of aerobic & anaerobic microbes, natural product isolation & identification, bioassays, AI-based molecular modeling, total synthesis & medicinal chemistry of bioactive compounds, in vitro and in vivo evaluation of drug leads, druggability and basic toxicity evaluation of potential drug candidates.

• Ph.D., Marine Natural Products Chemistry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA, Professor William Fenical, 1994
• M.S., Chemical Instrumentation, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, Professor Kyung-Ryul Kim, 1988
• B.S., Oceanography (major) and Chemistry/Biology (minors), Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, 1986

• Member, Presidential Council for Future & Vision, Korea, 2010-2013
• Director, The Center for Marine Natural Product & Drug Discovery, Ministry of Oceans & Fisheries, Seoul, Korea, 2004-2013
• Professor, School of Earth & Environmental Sciences and Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Genetic Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, 1998-
• Research Associate, The Salk Institute/Howard Hughes Medical Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA, 1994-1998

1. Yong-Xu Wang, Chih-Hao Lee, Sambath Tiep, Ruth, T Yu, Jungyeob Ham, Heonjoong Kang, and Ronald M. Evans, (2003). Peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptorδ activates fat metabolism to prevent obesity. Cell, 113(2), 159-170, doi: 10.1016/S0092-8674(03)00269-1
2. Hiyoung Kim, Jungwook Chin, Hyukjae Choi, Kyungryul Baek, Tae-Gu Lee, Seong Eon Park, Weihong Wang, Dongyup Hahn, Inho Yang, Jihye Lee, Bora Mun, Merrick Ekins, Sang-Jip Nam, and Heonjoong Kang, (2013). Phosphoiodyns A and B, Unique Phosphorus-Containing Iodinated Polyacetylenes from a Korean Sponge Placospongia sp. Organic Letters, 15(1), 100-103, doi: 10.1021/ol3031318
3. Jungyeob Ham, Hoosang Hwang, Euno Kim, Jeong-ah Kim, Sung Jin Cho, Jaeyoung Ko, Woojin Lee, Jaehwan Lee, Harish Holla, Joydeep Banerjee, Seokho Kim, Inho Yang, Hyun Joo Lee, Kyoungjin Shin, Hyukjae Choi, Sang-Jip Nam, Jungae Tak, Dongyup Hahn, Taekyung Oh, Dong Hwan Won, Tae Gu Lee, Jihye Choi, Mi Sun Park, Chaok Seok, Jungwook Chin, and Heonjoong Kang, (2012). Discovery, design and synthesis of Y-shaped peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor δ agonists as potent anti-obesity agents in vivo. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 53(July), 190-202, doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2012.03.055