On April 7th, 2023, Prof. Dr.Shaonong Chen from University of Illinois at Chicago was invited by Prof. Dr. Guangmin Yao to give a wonderful online lecture entitled “Creating a New Path--New Thinking on Natural Product Research:Proanthocynidins as Biomodifers of Dentin” at Zoom (ID:86105509071, https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86105509071?pwd=K3NlMDlCdlNybzdLZjlYNFpGMGpydz09).The lecture was hosted by Prof. Dr. Guangmin Yao, and 29 teachers and students from the School of Pharmacy attended online.
Tanninssuch as proanthocynidinshave long been considered as invalid components due to its complex structures, polymerization and un-stability, however, Professor Chen’s group made a breakthrough in in utilizingproanthocynidinsasbiomodifers of dentin. In this lecture, Professor Chen introduced some new methods and technologies they developed to solve the problems in the extraction, isolation, and structure elucidation ofproanthocynidinsin detail, and expounded the application ofproanthocynidinsasbiomodifers of dentinin depth. Professor Chen’ research aimed at the application, developed new methods and technologies, opened a new road for themselves, and broken through the bottlenecks. This online lecture provided valuable experience and applied practice for our natural medicinal chemistry research, and provided new ideas.
Professor Chen’s wonderful online lecture has aroused the great interest of the teachers and Professor Chen has been patient and meticulous in answering all kinds of questions. The atmosphere was lively and full of academic flavor. The online seminar enlivened the academic atmosphere, broadened the research ideas and international horizons, and thus was highly praised by the teachers and students.
Shaonong Chen obtained his Ph. D. from Lanzhou University in 1997. In 2016, he was appointed as an associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has long been engaged in research on the use of plant dietary supplements to alleviate the menopause of women, development of new drugs against drug-resistant tuberculosis bacteria, biological modification of plant dentin and the compounds of cannabis. New analytical methods and techniques have been developed to break the bottlenecks in the study of natural product by using the cross-discipline of chemistry and biology as the research interface. He has long been supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He has made remarkable achievements in the related field, andhe has totally published 185 papers in journals such as Science Advances, Analytical Chemistry, Organic Letters, and Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.
