Name: Prof. Dr. Xiaoguang Lei
  Email: xglei@pku.edu.cn
  Affiliation: Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, China

Warm congratulations to Prof. Dr. Xiaoguang Lei for winning the Molecules 2022 Tu Youyou Award.

Prof. Dr. Xiaoguang Lei is currently the Boya Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Peking University. His laboratory at Peking University conducts research on the interface between chemistry and biology. He focuses on the function-oriented synthesis of structurally complex and bioactive natural products and systematically uses bioactive small molecules (either natural products or unnatural compounds) to study their biological functions, elucidate molecular mechanisms of the essential biological pathways, and develop novel therapeutic agents for currently intractable human diseases, such as cancers and infectious diseases. In addition, he has been exploring the biosynthesis of plant-derived bioactive natural products and developing efficient chemoenzymatic approaches to access these complex molecules. During his career to date, Prof. Dr. Lei has distinguished himself with numerous high-quality contributions in diverse areas of natural product synthesis, chemical biology, and drug discovery. His investigations into the molecular details and mechanisms at the interface between chemistry and biology have led to novel discoveries with potentially significant consequences for molecular medicine.

We conducted an interview with Prof. Dr. Xiaoguang Lei regarding his research and achievements. We hope you enjoy the interview.