Dr Rui Fang

Natural Product Chemist

Rui Fang
Department

Enhanced Partnerships

Team

Commercial Innovation Unit

Specialism

Chemometrics, spectrometry, Traditional Chinese Medicine, natural products, data mining, R, Weka, tissue culture, enzymatic testing

I use my expertise in natural products and their biological activities to further our knowledge about the traditional uses of plants and fungi. I investigate natural fragrance via Headspace GC-MS and study antifungal and antibacterial natural products. My research work involves using in-vitro bioassay-guided fractionation methods to isolate active compounds to support the scientific basis of their uses. Structures of compounds are determined using Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LCMS) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy. My current research focus is using multivariate analysis approach for combined data sets: phytochemistry, biological activity, taxonomy and ecology. These techniques not only help to differentiate samples among species, also identify those contain high levels of active compounds. This enables me to evaluate the quality of natural products entering the trade, especially for food, cosmetics, and healthcare products. I collaborate with colleagues and develop cross-disciplinary data mining methods to maximise the use of our collections, which provides a robust scientific understanding of natural products and their uses.

Languages: Mandarin (native) and English

  • Senior Researcher at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 2008
  • Research Associate, Centre for Natural Medicines Research King’s College, University of London 2007
  • PhD Pharmacy, King’s College London, University of London 2006
  • BSc Biochemistry, South China Agricultural University 2001

Antonelli, A., Smith, R.J., Fry, C., Simmonds, M.S.J., Kersey, P.J., Pritchard, H.W., et al (2020)

State of the World’s Plants and Fungi.

Royal Botanic Gardens (Kew); Sfumato Foundation

Simmonds, M.S.J., Fang, R., Wyatt, L., et al. (2020)

Biodiversity and patents: overview of plants and fungi covered by patents.

Plants, People, Planet 2: 546-556.

Moses, R.L., Fang, R., Dally, J., Briggs, M., Lundy, F.T., Kiapranis, R., Moseley, R. and Prescott, T.A. (2020)

Evaluation of Cypholophus macrocephalus sap as a treatment for infected cutaneous ulcers in Papua New Guinea.

Fitoterapia p104554.

Fang, R. & He, G. (2019)

Building a bridge between ecology and Chinese herbal medicines. 

Chinese Herbal Medicines 11: 237-238

Fang, R., Redfern, S.P., Kirkup, D., Porter, E.A., Kite, G.C., Terry, L.A., Berry, M.J. & Simmonds, M.S., (2017)

Variation of theanine, phenolic, and methylxanthine compounds in 21 cultivars of Camellia sinensis harvested in different seasons.

Food Chemistry 220: 517-526.

Prescott, T.A., Homot, P., Lundy, F.T., Fang, R., Patrick, S., Cámara-Leret, R. & Kiapranis, R. (2017)

Tropical ulcer plant treatments used by Papua New Guinea's Apsokok nomads.

Journal of Ethnopharmacology 205: 240-245.

Green, P.W.C., Hamilton, M.A., Sanchez, M.D. & Fang, R. (2017)

Phenotypic plasticity in the emission of terpenes by a threatened pine species (Pinus caribaea var. bahamensis): effects of scale infestation and environment.

Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research 90: 553-560.

Kendon, J.P., Rajaovelona, L., Sandford, H., Fang, R., Bell, J. & Sarasan, V. (2017)

Collecting near mature and immature orchid seeds for ex situ conservation: ‘in vitro collecting’ as a case study.

Botanical studies 58: 34.
 

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Rui Fang

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Rui Fang