The department is mainly engaged in the discovery and development of small molecular drugs with own intellectual property. At the same time, systematic research is carried out on the basic theory and key technologies closely related to the process of drug discovery. The research areas include but not limited to the expression, purification and structural determination of a target protein, computer-aided drug design, lead discovery and optimization, total synthesis of natural products, and development of new synthetic methodology and technology. The research focuses on discovery of antitumor drugs, antiviral drugs, anti-diabetic drugs, and drugs for CNS and cardiovascular diseases. In recent years, more than 50 national research projects and 30 provincial or ministerial projects, including 10 national "major new drug discovery and development" projects, 2  "863" projects, and 1 national key research project，have been funded. More than 200 papers have been published in the peer-reviewed journals including J. Med. Chem., Eur. J. Med. Chem., ACS Med. Chem. Lett., Bioorg. Med. Chem., J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Org. Lett., J. Org. Chem., etc. The Department also boasts of more than 100 patents, 3 new drug certificates and 3 provincial and ministerial awards.