Dianqing Sun, Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Associate Professor Sun is investigating anti-cancer agents. His development of novel anti-TB agents may have the potential to overcome the cross resistance that occurs with current clinically used TB drugs.
Posted April 17, 2012; updated June 27, 2018, and June 18, 2024. Professor Sun now serves as chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UH Hilo.
Dianqing Sun is a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. His lab at the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy focuses on the design and synthesis of novel small molecule and natural product based anti-infective and anti-cancer agents. The chemical approaches include classical organic synthesis, parallel and high-throughput chemistry, solid-phase organic synthesis, followed by traditional medicinal chemistry optimization of the emerging lead compounds.
He’s done extensive work in tuberculosis research.
“No TB specific drugs have been discovered since the introduction of Rifampin 40 years ago,” says Sun. “In particular, due to the emergence and evolution of drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis, there is an urgent need to discover new chemotype TB drugs with novel mechanism of action and low toxic properties.”
In his TB work, Sun employed approaches inspired by high-throughput screening hits and natural products, and the researcher aimed to develop small molecule piperidinol- and natural product Engelhardione-based analogues as novel antituberculosis agents.
Sun says development of novel anti-TB agents may have the potential to overcome the cross resistance that occurs with current clinically used TB drugs.
Sun received his master of science in organic chemistry at East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China, and doctor of philosophy in organic chemistry at the University of Memphis.
