Alessandra S. Eustaquio
Assistant Professor, Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy
Center Affiliate, Center for Biomolecular Sciences
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We are interested in addressing questions related to drug discovery and development from natural sources, in particular from microorganisms. Natural products (or specialized metabolites) play a crucial role in human health. About half of the medicines we use today have their origin in plants, fungi, bacteria and other organisms. Nevertheless, limited access from natural sources coupled with difficulties in altering their chemical structure – which is usually necessary to improve pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties – represent the main challenges of natural product drug discovery and development. Our lab aims to contribute to a) addressing the supply problem and b) generating structural diversity not found in nature but desirable for pharmaceutical applications by using biosynthetic engineering and genomic approaches.