Brief of School of Pharmaceutical Sciences

School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Health Science Center, Shenzhen University, was established in 2018. Adhering to the Shenzhen University motto of "self-reliance, self-discipline and self-improvement", School of Pharmaceutical Sciences train pharmaceutical professionals, creates effective medicine for the world, cares for human health and contributes to the development of national medicine.

Aiming at the needs of the development of national pharmaceutical industry, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences establishes superior disciplines, cultivates pharmaceutical meritocratics, and promotes the level of research and development of new clinical drugs. Relying on the academic advantages of Health Science Center of Shenzhen University, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences actively promotes the inter- disciplines and initiates the innovative development of the Pharmaceutical Sciences at Shenzhen University. School of Pharmaceutical Sciences has a first-level discipline of pharmacy, The School has been granted a master's degree authorized first-level discipline. It has eight teaching and research sections of pharmacology, pharmaceutical chemistry, natural pharmacology, traditional Chinese pharmacology, pharmaceutical analysis, Pharmaceutics, clinical pharmacy and pharmaceutical administration, with 210 undergraduate students. At present, the school of pharmacy has 28 faculty members, among which there are 1 Special appointed professor of winners of the NSFC Outstanding Young Scholars, 5 professors and researchers, 1 associate professor, 17 assistant professors and 4 teaching assistants. 86% of the faculty members hold doctor's degree, and 64% had studied abroad.

At present, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences has research platforms such as National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Key Technologies in Medical Synthetic Biology Application, Guangdong Natural small molecule innovative drug Engineering Technology Research Center, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of New Natural Health Products Research, etc., which are equipped with 600MHz and 400MHz NMR instruments, Ultra-high Performance Liquid Chromatography, High Resolution Quadruple of Flight Mass Spectrometer, Triple Four Level Instrument Rod Tandem Mass Spectrometer, GC-MS, flow cytometer and sorter, Bio-Rad Gradient Fluorescence Quantitative PCR, Bio-Rad Intelligent Chemiluminescence Imaging System and other High Precision Equipments. In terms of pharmacology and biology research, the researcher platforms  has 100,000 grade clean room system, 100-grade ultra-clean table, Lycra laser confocal microscope, Nikon fluorescence inverted microscope, BD FACSAria III cell sorting system, Low temperature ultracentrifuge and other instruments and equipment for molecular and cell biology research.

The research areas include traditional Chinese medicine and Pharmacodynamic evaluation of medicinal plant materials, medicinal, anti-tumor drugs, anti-infection drugs, hypoglycemic drugs, drug design and screening, innovative drug key technology and so on. It has undertaken more than 30 NSFC projects (National Natural Science Foundation of China) and number of provincial and ministry projects. It has published more than 200 SCI research papers in international renowned academic journals. It has established good cooperative relations with many universities in the United States, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia and other countries.

School of Pharmaceutical Sciences is committed to train high-quality pharmaceutical professionals with all-round development of morality, intelligence and health, and to establish a style of study of "striving for rigor, diligence, truth-seeking and innovation", focusing on cultivating students' comprehensive quality and innovative spirit. We will actively seize the opportunity, face the challenge, and to strengthen the disciplinary construction, talent and the software and hardware construction, system, perfecting the rules and regulations and establish the original drive of college culture, world demand oriented, strengthen subject construction and talents training, improve the level of scientific research, strengthen the translation of scientific and technological achievements, for Chinese medicine to contribute to the development of higher education and pharmacy industry.

National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Key Technologies in Medical Synthetic Biology Application

(1) Major Breakthrough —IMMUTAC Technology

IMMUTAC series of drugs were first designed and synthesized at home and abroad. Its content is to synthesize and screen anti-cancer drugs with anti-tumor target drugs and immune activation. Through a large number of synthetic screening (150 novel types series of compounds), two anti-cancer targeted drugs with immune activation function were obtained, which showed strong immune activation effect in vivo and in vitro, as well as ideal anti-cancer effect. It is expected to become a new generation of anti-cancer targeted drugs with immune memory and prevention of recurrence. In this field, we are a leader at home and abroad, and have occupied an independent intellectual property patent for Shenzhen University (cn20181033158.x).

(2) Technology Development

It is the first time to develop an antibody conjugated drug (ADC) for high-efficiency anti-tumor star drug PD-1 at home and abroad, which lays a foundation for leading the second generation of dual-function (removing immunosuppression and activating natural immunity) PD-1 antibody, and provides a new technology and product for anti-cancer drugs to move towards high efficiency and cure. This technology and product is the first in China and abroad, and is being developed in cooperation with the national new drug evaluation center of Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Shenzhen University has an independent intellectual property patent: Obtained Chinese patent authorization CN 201210382202.8 and the United States of America patent authorization US 2015/0284445 A1.

TCM Science Principle and Chronic Disease Intervention Team

(1) The drug of Kangfuxin Liquid developed by Periplaneta americana (cockroach) has been on the clinical treatment for many years, and the annual sales of a single variety has exceeded one billion Yuan. We have long been committed to insect drug research, and the compound ZL-49 discoveryed from cockroach has significant anti-triple negative breast cancer effects in vivo and in vitro. Triple negative breast cancer is a stubborn disease in breast cancer. In 2019, the research achievements on triple negative breast cancer won the Albert Lasker prize of the United States, which is a beforehand of the Nobel Prize, which is enough to show the importance of triple negative breast cancer research. The molecular mechanism we found is relatively clear, which targeted TGF-beta/BMP signaling pathway not only inhibits breast cancer growth, but also significantly inhibits bone metastasis and lung metastasis. In 2018, based on the above screening and mechanism studies, the work of structural optimization was carried out, and it is planned to start the work of evaluation of drug-forming ability or preclinical system evaluation at the end of 2019.

(2) Renal fibrosis can lead to uremia, requiring dialysis and kidney transplantation. Intervention of renal fibrosis is an important way to prevent or slow down chronic renal failure. Ganoderma lucidum is a Chinese herb. We have pioneered the study of terpenoid chemical profiles with mixed source in the chemical level and are the global leader in this field. In 2018, an in-depth study on IZ-22, the compounds of  Ganoderma lucidum found to have anti-renal fibrosis, was conducted, and its effect on Wnt/beta-catenin/RAS system was confirmed and significant in animal models of acute and chronic renal fibrosis. It were completed total synthesis, and studies on cardiac and renal syndrome, peritoneal fibrosis, hypertension, etc., have been completed, confirming its significant effect on these diseases related to nephropathy. Preclinical studies are expected by 2020.

(3) EGFR mutated non-small cell lung cancer remains intractable, and the latest Osimertinib has produced clinical resistance. We found that the compound d6cis can significantly down-regulate EGFR from Chinese herbal medicine, and further studies on the mechanism have proved effective in animal models. Currently, AstraZeneca produces most of these drugs, and our research discovery belongs to a new family of structures that may provide new opportunities for the study of EGFR-resistant non-small cell lung cancer.

Natural Small Molecule Innovative Drug Research Team

Research on of anti-viral innovative drug of Natural molecular compounds via regulating endogenous cytokine: firstly, our research team first defined the concept of endogenous antiviral cytokines in the world, and established a complete set of experimental methods for screening, evaluation and mechanism study of active molecules. So far, our team has discovered from traditional Chinese medicine that natural small molecule compounds of terpenoids, polyphenoids and glycoside have the activity of killing or inhibiting virus infection by regulating endogenous antiviral cytokines in mice. The basic research in vitro and in vivo has been completed to clarify the dose-response relationship and mechanism of its molecular action. At present, the preclinical trial of novel drugs for regulating endogenous antiviral cytokines against body infection is about to be carried out, and it is expected that the first clinical drug regulating endogenous antiviral cytokines against body infection will be developed in the near future and in world.

(2) Research on resource of Ku Ding Cha: Ku Ding Cha is a Chinese unique biological resource species in world, which is a health beverage widely drunk in the folk. The use of Ku Ding Cha has a long history of more than 2000 years, and it is the only large amount of resource that has not been developed so far in China. Because of the confusion of basic resource species of Ku Ding Cha, the development and application of resources are severely restricted. Since decades of continuous and systematic basic research, Our research team has completed the resource source verification, pharmacognosy research, basic research on chemical profiles of Ku Ding Cha, molecular pharmacology research and resource safety evaluation. The results of this study will promote the rational development of Ku Ding Cha resources and enhance the value of Ku Ding Cha resources.

(3) Health industry product development: in the traditional medicine and food raw material, for metabolic dysfunction in the elderly, our team has screened the activities of small molecular compound, the research and development series health care products, which are beneficial to the body metabolism. six kinds of health care products were successfully developed: 1) protect liver capsule, 2) antiviral pellets, 3) hypolipidemic dropping pill, 4) Physical endurance, 5) catharsis preparations and 6) slimming reducing factor. In the large health industry products development, a total of 11 national patent authorizations.