On August 11th, 2023, Professor Shugeng Cao from University of Hawaii at Hilo was invited by Professor Guangmin Yao to give a wonderful lecture entitled "Natural product research in the Paradise of the Pacific Ocean" in the 5th meeting room of School of Pharmacy. This lecture was hosted by Professor Guangmin Yao, and 37 teachers and students including Professors Jiachun Chen and Huijuan You from School of Pharmacy attended it.
Professor Cao reported the latest research progress of his group in the field of Natural Medicinal Chemistry. His lecture mainly contained three main sections: NP drug discovery from natural sources (e.g. microorganisms in Hawaii), Herbal medicines (e.g. TCM & Hawaiian medicinal plants), and Small molecules with functions in human & animals, bacteria etc.
Professor Shugeng Cao's in-depth research on proanthocyanidins has provided valuable experience and practical applications for our research on natural products. Professor Chao's excellent lecture attracted great attention from teachers and students attending the meeting. This academic presentation broadened our research ideas and international perspectives, allowing us to learn more about research technologies and methods abroad.
After the lecture, the teachers and students at the meeting talked enthusiastically and asked questions actively. Prof. Cao answered all the questions such as the resources, distribution and collection of medicinal plants in Hawaii. Prof. Cao agreed to cooperate with Prof. Yao based on Hawaiian rich medicinal plants resources and taking advantage of both professional platforms, and both of them would jointly apply for the international cooperation projects of Hubei Province or the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, to search new drug lead compounds with novel structures from Hawaiian medicinal plants and exploit the medicinal plants resources in Hawaii.
Professor Shugeng Cao graduated from School of Pharmacy, Hubei University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and received his bachelor degree. After working, he studied at China Pharmaceutical University and Gifu Pharmaceutical University in Japan for one year. After receiving his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the National University of Singapore in 1999, he worked in the National Natural Products Research Center of Singapore for nearly five years, during which he worked for GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceutical Company in the UK. From 2003 to 2013, Professor Cao was engaged in natural medicine research at Virginia Tech University and Harvard Medical School. In 2013, Professor Cao came to the Cancer Research Center of University of Hawaii Medical Campus. Since 2015, he took the position of Associate Professor and Full Professor at the School of Pharmacy of the University of Hawaii. At present, his research interests include NP drug discovery from natural sources, Herbal medicines, Small molecules with functions in human, animals, and bacteria etc. During his tenure at the School of Pharmacy of the University of Hawaii, his research was supported by the National Institutes of Health, Natural Science Foundations and enterprises. Up to now, 166 articles have been published in the international authoritative journals such as Science, Nature, Cell, PNAS, Nature Medicine, Organic Letters, Journal of Natural Products, and Phytochemistry.
