Prof. Jun-Yan Hong, Ph.D.
Health/Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, UMDNJ

Dr. Jun-Yan Hong is currently Associate Professor at School of Public Health/Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ). Before joining UMDNJ, he was a faculty member at Rutgers University, College of Pharmacy. Dr. Hong graduated from Shanghai Medical University, and received his MS degree in Cell Biology from Shanghai Institute of Cell Biology, Academia Sinica and his Ph.D. Degree in Biochemistry from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, USA. Dr. Hong has been working for many years and published over 50 peer-reviewed papers on cytochromes P450 enzyme system, metabolism of carcinogens and drugs, and mechanisms of environmental carcinogenesis. His current research interests focus on the role of genetic polymorphism in human susceptibility to environmental diseases and in an individual's response to therapeutic drugs. His research has been well supported by NIH grants and other funding agencies. Dr. Hong is an overseas member of the Advisory Board, Chinese National Committee for Research and Development of New Drugs and the former President (1995-1996) of Sino-American Pharmaceutical Professionals Association. He has served as a grant reviewer for NIH, American Cancer Society and Wellcome Trust as well as a manuscript reviewer for numerous scientific journals. He is a member of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey and a member of Cancer Cotrol and Prevention Advisory Group, New Jersey State Commission on Cancer Research. Dr Hong recently served as Chairman of International Symposium on Environmental Genome and Pharmcogenetics, which was mainly sponsored by NIH, Chinese National Human Genome Center and Roche China.

Abstract: Most drugs, if not all, will be metabolized once they enter the human body. The metabolism is generally catalyzed by the cytochrome P450 (CYP) and/or other drug-metabolizing enzymes. Since drug metabolism plays a critical role in the bioavailability, therapeutic response and toxic effects of drugs, the information on drug metabolism and the enzymes involved is required at both discovery and development stages of new drugs. While the drug metabolism studies are a routine practice in Western pharmaceutical industries, it has received much less attention in the development of Chinese medicinal herbs and other natural products. Concurrent use of Chinese medicinal herbs and pharmaceutical drugs is not uncommon, which includes the addition of pharmaceutical drugs to Chinese "herbal" products by the manufacturers. Such concurrent use represents a potential risk to cause serious herb-drug interactions that may decrease or increase the pharmacological or toxicological effects of either component. As in drug-drug interactions, many herb-drug interactions can be due to the modulation (induction or inhibition) of the relevant drug-metabolizing enzymes. This presentation will introduce the concepts of drug metabolism and drug-metabolizing enzymes, the important roles of drug metabolism in drug development, as well as the modern approaches and techniques for drug metabolism studies. Recently reported cases of herb-drug interactions will also be presented.