Brandon I Morinaka

Asst Prof Brandon I Morinaka is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the National University of Singapore (NUS), under the Faculty of Science. His research focuses on natural products, particularly secondary metabolites from microorganisms, and their application in drug discovery. The Morinaka Lab employs bioinformatics and synthetic biology to identify and engineer enzymes involved in peptide-based therapeutics and biomaterials. A key focus is radical SAM enzymes, which catalyze unique reactions forming cyclophanes in peptides. Recent work includes studying 3-residue cyclophane-forming enzymes (3-CyFEs) and their role in triceptide biosynthesis.

Education: BSc Chemistry (University of California, Santa Cruz), PhD Chemistry (University of California, San Diego).

Research Interests: Natural product drug discovery, biosynthetic enzymes, peptide modifications, radical SAM enzymes, microbial secondary metabolites.

Publications highlight advancements in understanding enzyme mechanisms, such as cyclophane formation and β-hydroxylation, as well as genome-mining approaches to discover novel bioactive peptides like landornamides and tolypamide.