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Bioresources Research Laboratory (BRL) has been established since 1995 with the aim of utilization of Thai bioresources, especially microorganisms.  Microorganisms are of interest in many research areas such as food process, both in production and preservation, enzymes industry, and drug discovery.  BRL is focused on the search of the bioactive compounds, which is essential in drug discovery process.  Microorganisms have been collected from various parts of Thailand and deposited in our BIOTEC culture collection (BCC).  To date over 60,000 crude extracts obtained from the collected microorganisms have been evaluated for biological activities, including antimalarial (Plasmodium falciparum, K1 -multidrug resistant strain), antifungal (Candida albicans), anti-Herpes Simplex Virus type 1, antimycobacterial (Mycobacterium tuberculosis), anti-inflammatory and antitumor (MCF-7, KB, and NCI-H187).  In collaboration with the Bioassay Laboratory, biological activity-guided fractionation has been exploited as a tool for the discovery of novel bioactive compounds.   Recently, BIOTEC compounds library has been set up and the library has played an important role in our search of new compounds.  BRL lab has also collaborated closely with the Fermentation Laboratory for improving the production of secondary metabolites of interest.  Consequently, many groups of fungi have been investigated for their chemical constituents and biological activities.   More than 300 pure compounds obtained by above procedure have been thoroughly evaluated for biological activities. 

 Moreover, in collaboration with the Protein-Ligand Engineering and Molecular Biology Laboratory, the project involving the development of the antimalarial compounds against the parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, has been conducted.  Many compounds based on rational drug design have been synthesized and then tested against the parasite enzyme (DHFR).  Once the drug candidate has been verified, a larger amount is required for further evaluation.  This can then be synthesized employing our pre-pilot scale facility.  

 Not only the research on utilization of bioresources but also research on biosensor application has been of our interest.