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Natural Product Drug Discovery Lab
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A lab that searches marine natural products for the starting points of new drugs.
AboutAbout the lab
Searching marine life for the starting points of new drugs
The Natural Product Drug Discovery Lab searches for compounds that could become the basis of drugs from marine organisms such as sponges and from marine-derived microorganisms.
The lab investigates how the compounds it finds act in the body, and also aims to develop them into drug candidate compounds through chemical synthesis.
The lab is divided into an exploration group and a synthesis group, and pursues drug discovery research from the perspectives of both chemistry and biology.
Students join one of the two groups according to their interests and conduct research there.
Key terms
- Secondary metabolites
- Compounds that organisms produce through their metabolism. Some are used as drugs or drug seeds
- Drug seeds
- Compounds and other materials with the potential to become drugs, which serve as starting points for developing new drugs
- Target molecule
- The protein to which an active natural product binds. It provides clues to the mechanism of action
- Total synthesis
- Building a natural product from scratch, starting from simple raw materials, through chemical reactions
NewsLab news
An undergraduate student won the Outstanding Poster Award at the interim presentation session for long-term research projects
A doctoral student won an Outstanding Presentation Award at the Kansai Branch Meeting of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan
A master's student won an Encouragement Award at the Mycobacteriology Research Meeting
An undergraduate student won an Outstanding Presentation Award at the 71st Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Pharmacognosy
Research by Project Assistant Professor Kimishima on the comprehensive synthesis of trichodermamides was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society
ResearchResearch themes
Secondary metabolites produced by marine organisms such as sponges and by marine-derived microorganisms are attracting attention as compounds that can become the basis of drugs. Using marine medicinal resources as its main source for exploration, this lab aims to develop new drug seeds and drug discovery targets for intractable diseases, working through an exploration group and a synthesis group.
*Illustrative imageBuilding a Library of Marine Medicinal Resources
In collaboration with universities and research institutes in Indonesia, the lab prepares extracts of benthic marine organisms and culture extracts of marine-derived microorganisms, and compiles them into a library. It also studies methods to activate silent genes that produce secondary metabolites not expressed under ordinary culture conditions.
*Illustrative imageDeveloping Evaluation Systems for Drug Seed Discovery
Incorporating the latest findings in disease pathology analysis, the lab builds evaluation systems (screening systems) for finding drug seeds effective against intractable diseases such as cancer and infectious diseases. Using them, it searches its own library of marine medicinal resources for drug seeds.
*Illustrative imageMechanisms of Action and Target Molecules of Active Natural Products
To turn the active natural products it has found into drug leads, the lab investigates their mechanisms of action and target molecules (binding proteins). Using approaches from biology, biochemistry, molecular biology, and chemical biology, this work also leads to the discovery of new drug discovery targets.
*Illustrative imageTotal Synthesis and Structure–Activity Relationships of Active Natural Products
Active natural products found through exploration are often available only in very small amounts, so organic synthesis is needed to supply them. The lab pursues total synthesis aimed at large-scale supply, as well as analog synthesis and structure–activity relationship analysis to develop lead compounds.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Natural Product Drug Discovery Lab consist of faculty, a visiting professor, secretaries, doctoral and master's students, research students, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorMasayoshi Arai
- Project Assistant ProfessorAtsushi Kimishima
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Niphates callista (Tube sponge) with sea cucumbers and cup corals” Nhobgood Nick Hobgood / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Building a Library of Marine Medicinal Resources: “Coral Outcrop Flynn Reef” Toby Hudson / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Developing Evaluation Systems for Drug Seed Discovery: “Infographic – High-throuput screening” InsightPublishers / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Mechanisms of Action and Target Molecules of Active Natural Products: “Sponge and Noble coral at Bill Liltved's Reef P9030121” Pbsouthwood / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Total Synthesis and Structure–Activity Relationships of Active Natural Products: “Rotary evaporator 2” Adimora chidinma / CC0 (cropped)
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- Related lab (Medicinal Synthetic Chemistry Lab (Chemical Pharmaceutical Sciences)): “Ballon bi-col 250mL” MrXandorf / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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