- Isolation and identification of anti-inflammatory secondary metabolites from fungal strains associated with marine sponges collected from Cu Lao Cham islands of Vietnam.
- Improving research capacity for young participants.
- Promoting the scientific and training collaboration with Wonkwang University, Korea.

- 10 fungal strains were isolated from the marine sponges collected from Cu Lao Cham islands. The fungi are being kept in glycerol at -80 oC.
- NO inhibitory effect of the EtOAc extracts of the 10 fungal strains was screened: MF05 showed strong inhibition; MF01, MF03, MF06–MF08 exhibited modest suppressive effect.
- The fungal strain MF05 was taxonomically identified as Penicillium oxalicum CLC-MF05.
- 11 compounds were isolated from the EtOAc extract of the fungus MF05. Their structures were identified as: oxaline (1), isorhodoptilometrin (2), 5-hydroxy-7-(2-hydroxypropyl)-2-methyl-chromone (3), 6,8-dihydroxy-3-methyl-9-oxo-9H-xanthene-1-carboxylic acid (4), endocrocin (5), 7-hydroxy-2,5-dimethylchromone (6), 3,4-dihydro-3,4,8-trihydroxy-1(2H)-naphthalenone (7), 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (8), WF-5239 (9), monodictyphenone (10), and 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furancarboxylic acid (11).
- Nitric oxide inhibitory effect of all the compounds was screened: compounds 1 and 2 (at 20 M) and 3 and 5 (at 80 M) showed potential activity.
- In vitro anti-inflammatory effect of compounds 1-3 were studied: all the compounds showed the ability to inhibit the production of proinflammatory mediators NO and PGE2, the expression of iNOS and COX-2, the mRNA expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-1β , IL-6, and IL-12, and inactivate the NF-κB, MAPK, and TLR4/MyD88 signaling pathways in both LPS-stimulated BV2 and PMC cell lines.
- The results were published on a SCIE paper: Archives of Pharmacal Research, 45(2), 90-104, 2022.

- The first time to evaluate the in vitro anti-inflammatory potential of some fungal strains isolated from marine sponges collected from Cu Lao Cham islands of Vietnam.
- The first time to study the underlying mechanism of anti-inflammatory action of compounds 1-3 in both BV2 and primary microglial (PMC) cells.

- Publication:
D.-C. Kim, T.H. Quang*, N.T. Tien, K.-W. Kim, Y.-C. Kim, N.T.T. Ngan, N.X. Cuong, N.H. Nam, H. Oh*, Anti-neuroinflammatory effect of oxaline, isorhodoptilometrin, and 5-hydroxy-7-(2′-hydroxypropyl)-2-methyl-chromone obtained from the marine fungal strain Penicillium oxalicum CLC-MF05, Arch. Pharm. Res. 45 (2022) 90-104.
- Other products: training 01 MSc.

- Further study on in vivo anti-inflammatory effect of compounds 1-3.
- Chemical investigation of other fungal strains.
- Keeping strengthening cooperation between Institute of Marine Biochemistry, VAST and Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development, College of Pharmacy, Wonkwang University on researches of marine-derived fungi.