Prof. H.Z. Sun¡@¡@¡@®]¬õ­õ±Ð±Â

B.Sc. Huaibei;
M.Sc. CAS (Wuhan);
Ph.D. Lond.

 
 

Office:

Dr. H.Z. Sun

Room 503
Chong Yuet Ming Chemistry Building
The University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam Road
Hong Kong
 

Tel. No.:
E-Mail:

 (852) 2859 8974
hsun@hku.hk
           
 
Prof. Sun's Research Labpage
  
           
Research Interests          
             
     

Research interests: Biological Inorganic Chemistry; Medicinal Chemistry and Inorganic Structural Biology.

Recognition of Metallodrugs by Biomolecules

Medicinal Inorganic chemistry has been stimulating largely by the success of the anticancer drug, cis-platin. Various metal complexes are currently used as therapeutic , diagnostic and imaging contrasting agents in clinical. Understanding the mechanism of action of these metallodrugs is crucial in order to design more effective drugs. Currently, we focus on the design and synthesis of new metal complexes , their interactions with peptides , proteins and enzymes (e.g., urease) under a variety of conditions. The recognition of metallodrugs by biomolecules will be investigated directly in biofluids (e.g. urine, plasma and various cells) by NMR and other biophysical techniques. A metalloproteomic and metallomic approach has been used to identify metal-binding proteins in cells.

Structure and Function of Metal Transport and Storage Proteins

One-third of all proteins are ¡§metalloproteins¡¨. The metal ions in metalloproteins are critical to the protein's function, structure, or stability. In fact, numerous essential biological functions require metal ions, and most of these metal ion functions involve metalloproteins. Our current interest lies in a cysteine-rich metalloprotein, neuronal growth inhibitory factor (GIF or metallothionein III) and histidine-rich proteins (e.g. Hpn). We have solved the three dimensional structure of the a-domain of MT-3 and TM4 of DMT1 by NMR and other biophysical techniques. A new program on the structure and function of metal-binding proteins in microorganisms has been initiated.

 

  
   
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Teaching Subjects
      
             
     

Inorganic Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry and Organic Chemistry of Life

  
     
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Achievements
      
             
     
  1. HKU Outstanding Young Researcher Award (2004-2005)
  2. Outstanding Young Scholar Award, NSFC, (2005)
  
     
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Selected Publications
      
             
     
  1. Cun SJ, Li HY, Ge RG, Lin MCM, Sun H ¡§A histidine- and cysteine-rich metal binding domain at the C-terminus of heat-shock protein A from Helicobacter pylori: implication for nickel homeostasis and bismuth susceptibility¡¨ J. Biol. Chem. 2008, published on March 25.
  2. Wang H, Li HY, Cai B, Huang ZX, Sun H ¡§The effect of nitric oxide (NO) on metal release from human metallothionein-3 (MT-3): gradual unfolding of the protein¡¨ J. Biolog. Inorg. Chem. 2008, 13, 411-419.
  3. R.G. Ge, H. Sun ¡§Bioinorganic chemistry of bismuth and antimony: target sites for metallodrugs¡¨ Acc. Chem. Res. 2007, 40, 267-274.
  4. Yang N, Tanner JA, Zheng BJ, Watt RM, He ML, Lu LY, Jiang J-Q, Shum K-T, Lin Y-P, Wong KL, Lin MCM, Kung HF, Sun H, Huang JD ¡§Bismuth complexes inhibit the SARS coronavirus¡¨ Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2007, 46, 6464-6468.
  5. Yang N, Tanner JA, Wang Z, Huang JD, Zheng BJ, Zhu N, Sun H ¡§Inhibition of SARS coronavirus helicase by bismuth complexes¡¨ Chem. Comm. 2007, 4413-4415
  6. H.Y. Li, K.L. Fung, I.O. Ng, K.H. Sze, B.C.B. Ko, H. Sun ¡§Solution structures, dynamics and lipid-binding of SAM domain from the deleted in liver cancer 2 (DLC2): a monomeric structure with membrane-binding properties¡¨ Proteins: Structure, Function and Bioinformatics 2007, 67, 1154-1166.
  7. Ge RG, Sun XS, Gu Q, Watt RM, Wong BCY, Xia HHX, Huang JD, He QY, Sun H ¡§A proteomic approach for the identification of bismuth-binding proteins in Helicobacter pylori¡¨ J. Biolog. Inorg. Chem. 2007, 12, 831-842.
  8. R.G. Ge, Y. Zhang, X.S. Sun, R.M. Watt, Q.-Y. He, J.D. Huang, D.E. Wilcox, H. Sun ¡§Thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of metal binding to the histidine-rich protein, Hpn¡¨ J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 11330-11331.
  9. R.G. Ge, R.M. Watt, X. Sun, J.A. Tanner, Q.Y. He, J.D. Huang, H.Z. Sun, ¡§Expression and Characterization of a Histidine-rich Protein: Potential for Ni2+ Storage in Helicobacter pylori¡¨, Biochem. J., 2006, 393, 285-293.
  10. R. Chen, M.H. So, J. Yang, F. Deng, C.M. Che, H. Sun ¡§Fabrication of bismuth subcarbonate nanotube arrays from bismuth citrate¡¨ Chem. Comm. 2006, 2265-2267.
  11. Wang H, Zheng Q, Cai B, Li HY, Sze KH, Huang ZX, Wu HM, Sun H ¡§Structure and dynamics of human metallothionein-3 (MT-3)¡¨ FEBS Lett. 2006, 580, 795-800.
  12. F. Li, H.Y. Li, M.F. Kwan, L.H. Hu, G.H. Chen, Q.Y. He, H.Z. Sun, ¡§Structure, Assembly and Topology of G185R Mutant of the Transmembrane Domain4 of Divalent Metal Transporter¡¨, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2005, 127, 1414-1423.
  
     
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