In March 2025, Professor DANG Yongjun from the College of Pharmacy of Chongqing Medical University was approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology to lead the National Key Research and Development(R&D) Program project titled "Precise Discovery and Verification of Deep-Sea Drug Source Molecular Targets" under the special program for key technologies and equipment in deep-sea and polar regions. The project has received direct funding of 15 million yuan.
This key R&D program integrates the strengths of 10 research units engaged in basic and applied research on marine drugs, including the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhejiang University, Wuhan University, the Biology Institute of Shandong Academy of Sciences, and the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The project combines disciplines and technologies such as marine natural medicinal chemistry, multi-omics, molecular pharmacology, chemical biology, structural biology, and artificial intelligence. It focuses on the precise discovery and verification of deep-sea drug source molecular targets, aiming to break through key technologies in multiple marine drugs creation. Driven by the "Four Orientations," the project seeks to promote the high-quality development of new marine drugs, enhance China's independent innovation capabilities and international competitiveness in this field, and establish a new model for marine drug research and development.
DANG Yongjun , Level-2 Professor (Professors in China fall into 4 levels), a recipient of the National Major Talent Program, the Dean of the College of Pharmacy at CQMU, the Director of the Center for Novel Target and Therapeutic Intervention , the Vice Chairman of the Marine Drug Pharmacology Committee of the Chinese Pharmacological Society, and the member of the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association's Committees on Traditional Chinese Medicine and Natural Medicine, and Marine Drugs. He is primarily engaged in the discovery, verification, and translational research of new targets and small molecule compounds related to diseases, with extensive experience in the discovery and verification of marine drug targets.
