Group members
Dr. Chin-Soon Phan
Head of NPR group
e-mail: chinsoon@osi.lv
Group leader Dr. Chin-Soon Phan was trained in marine natural products chemistry and obtained his PhD in 2018 from UMS, Malaysia. He was then exposed to natural products biosynthesis at the University of Western Australia (as visiting fellow, 2018–2019), Hokkaido University (as JSPS postdoctoral fellow, 2019–2021), and National University of Singapore (as postdoctoral researcher, 2021–2023). He started his independent research group at the Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis in December 2023.
Selected publications
1. Phan, C. S.; Ling, Z.; Mehjabin, J. J.; Matsuda, K.; Iman, P. N.; Umezawa, T.; Wakimoto, T.; Okino, T. Doubly homologated tyrosine-containing peptides from the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa NIES-4285 and their biosynthesis. J. Nat. Prod. 2024, 87, 2629–2639.
2. Phan, C. S.; Morinaka, B. I. Sequence-function space of radical SAM cyclophane synthases reveal conserved active site residues that influence substrate specificity. RSC Chem. Biol. 2024, 5, 1195–1200.
3. Phan, C. S.; Chang, L.; Nguyen, T. Q. N.; Suarez, A. F. L.; Ho, X. H.; Chen, H.; Koh, I. Y. F.; Morinaka, B. I. Substrate promiscuity of the triceptide maturase XncB leads to incorporation of various amino acids and detection of oxygen adducts. ACS Chem. Biol. 2024, 19, 855–860.
4. Phan, C. S.; Morinaka, B. I. A prevalent group of Actinobacterial radical SAM/SPASM maturases involved in triceptide biosynthesis. ACS Chem. Biol. 2022, 17, 3284–3289.
5. Phan, C. S.; Matsuda, K.; Balloo, N.; Fujita, K.; Wakimoto, T.; Okino, T. Argicyclamides A-C unveil enzymatic basis for guanidine bis-prenylation. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 10083–10087.
Selected patents
1. Morinaka, B. I.; Sugiyama, R.; Yao, Z.; Ee, P. L. R.; Tram, D. T. N.; Morishita, Y.; Phan, C.-S.; Lim, J. Peptides with antimicrobial properties. 2024, PCT patent no. PCT/SG2023/050524.
2. Wakimoto, T.; Okino, T.; Matsuda, K.; Phan, C. S. Novel prenylating enzyme. 2022, PCT patent no. PCT/JP2022/004501.
Dr. Abujunaid Habib Khan
Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr. Abujunaid Habib Khan holds a master's degree in Marine Biotechnology from Annamalai University (India) and has received training in synthetic biology at Praj Matrix-R&D Center (India). He completed his PhD at CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (India) in 2024, and his research focused on isolation and biologic activity of microbial natural products. Currently, Dr. Abujunaid Habib Khan's research interest is to unravel the vast potential of Baltic region microbial natural products for their application in drug discovery.
Selected publications
1. Venugopal, G.; Kumar, V.; Badrinarayan Jadhav, A.; Dongre, S. D.; Khan, A.; Gonnade, R.; Kumar, J.; Santhosh Babu, S. Boron‐and Oxygen‐Doped π‐Extended Helical Nanographene with Circularly Polarised Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence. Chem. Eur. J. 2024, 30, e202304169.
2. Khan, A.; Pradeep, S.; Dastager, S. G. In vitro anticancer evaluation of Enceleamycin A and its underlying mechanism. RSC Adv. 2023, 13, 34183–34193.
3. Khan, A.; Said, M. S.; Borade, B. R.; Gonnade, R.; Barvkar, V.; Kontham, R.; Dastager, S. G. Enceleamycins A–C, Furo-Naphthoquinones from Amycolatopsis sp. MCC0218: Isolation, Structure Elucidation, and Antimicrobial Activity. J. Nat. Prod. 2022, 85, 1267–1273.
4. Said, M. S.; Udavant, R.; Sahu, A. K.; Khan, A.; Nayak, R.; Dastager, S. G.; Kumar, P.; Gajbhiye, J. Total synthesis of (-)-2-methoxy-2-butenolide-3-cinnamate and its antimicrobial potentials. Nat. Prod. Res. 2021, 35, 5177–5182.
5. Naushin, S. et. al. Insights from a Pan India Sero-Epidemiological survey (Phenome-India Cohort) for SARS-CoV2. Elife, 2021, 10, e66537.
6. Sahu, A. K.; Said, M. S.; Hingamire, T.; Gaur, M.; Khan, A.; Shanmugam, D.; Barvkar, V. T.; Dharne, M. S.; Bharde, A. A.; Dastager, S. G. Approach to nigericin derivatives and their therapeutic potential. RSC Adv. 2020, 10, 43085–43091.
Selected patents
1. Dastager, S. G.; Khan, A.; Said, M. Novel furo-naphthoquinone and novel pyrazinone compound from Amycolatopsis and activities thereof. 2023. Patent No. IN202211009245, PCT/IN2023/050133.
Dr. Jabal Rahmat Haedar
Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr. Jabal Rahmat Haedar obtained his master's degree (in 2019) and PhD (in 2022) from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Hokkaido University (Japan). His research interests involve the discovery and biosynthesis of microbial natural products, genome mining, and enzymology as a tool for elucidating biochemical pathways.
Selected publications
1. Haedar, J. R.; Yoshimura, A.; Wakimoto, T. New variochelins from soil-isolated Variovorax sp. H002. Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 692–700.
2. Hasan, N.; Fatimah, S. N.; Anugerah; Raihan, M.; Subehan; Mustopa, A. Z.; Irawan, H.; Haedar, J. R.; Habibie. Isolation and Identification of ethyl p-methoxycinnamate (EPMC) from Kaempheria galanga as anti-cancer agent. Maj. Farm. Farmakol. 2023, 27, 140–146.
3. Haedar, J. R.; Uria, A. R.; Lallo, S.; Dibwe, D. F.; Wakimoto, T. New Theonellapeptolides from Indonesian Marine Sponge Theonella swinhoei as Anti-austerity Agents. Mar. Drugs 2022, 20, 661–678.
4. Rumengan, I. F. M.; Roring, V. I. Y.; Haedar, J. R.; Siby, M. S.; Luntungan, A. H.; Kolondam, B. J.; Uria, A. R.; Wakimoto, T. Ascidian-associated photosymbionts originated from Manado, Indonesia: Secondary metabolite identification, bioactivity simulation, and biosynthetic insight. Symbiosis 2021, 84, 71–82.
Vic Kiselov, BSc
Lab Technician
Vic Kiselov holds Bachelor's degree in Biotechnology, awarded in 2020 by the University of Nottingham (United Kingdom), and has a work experience at the MGI Tech Latvia as the field application developer. Currently, Vic Kiselov maintains the laboratory and conducts the daily routine tasks as well as assissts in natural products research.
Anitra Zīle, MSc
PhD student
