Projects currently in the Wang Lab.

Project 1. Discovery of new natural product drugs from filamentous fungi. We pioneered the use of genomic information for the discovery of novel natural products drugs. We have developed various methods to turn on silent natural product biosynthesis pathways in filamentous fungi. 

Project 2. Analysis and characterization of fungal species isolated from the International Space Station. Along with NASA astronauts the ISS is home to a variety of bacteria and fungi. Working with NASA scientists and collaborators at Univ. of Wisconsin Madison we are analyzing filamentous fungi as they are returned to Earth for the purpose of understanding the diversity of the microbial and fungal populations on the ISS and for crew health protection.

Project 3. Sustainable production of complex natural products using filamentous fungi. In this project we are developing new platforms to produce polyketides and nonribosomal peptides from post-consumer plastics. Collaborators in this project include scientists from the USC chemistry department and the University of Kansas.  

Project 4. Utilization of the International Space Station for Drug Discovery. Working with NASA Space Biology Program and CASIS, we are sending our drug producing filamentous to the International Space Station. We are investigating the effects of microgravity in fungal growth with the goal of turning on silent pathways for the discovery of novel compounds.