DRUG DESIGN - Key Persons


Abbas Raza

Job Titles:
  • Research Associate Professor, Center for Drug Design ( CDD ) Head, Cosmetic Science and Product Innovation, Center for Drug Design ( CDD )
Novel solid-state reduction of organic functional groups on solid support (Merrifield's resin). Raza, A.; Padmaja, M. B.; Chandrasekhar, S. Synlett 1999, (7), 1061-1062.

Ajit Jagtap

Job Titles:
  • People
  • Postdoctoral Associate - Wang Group

Barbara A. Gilchrest

Job Titles:
  • Chairman Emeritus and Professor of Dermatology / Boston University

Bhaskara Rao Karri

Job Titles:
  • People
  • Postdoctoral Associate - Vince / More Group

Charles Schiaffo

Job Titles:
  • Toll Like Receptor Agonists. ( Assistant Prof. - UW Stevens Point )

Christine D. Dreis

Job Titles:
  • Senior Scientist
  • People

Christine E. Salomon

Job Titles:
  • Associate Professor, Center for Drug Design ( CDD )

Courtney C. Aldrich

Job Titles:
  • Associate Professor / Department of Medicinal Chemistry

Danae R. Quirk-Dorr

Job Titles:
  • Professor / Department of Chemistry

Dariya Begum

Job Titles:
  • People
  • Postdoctoral Associate - Geraghty Group

David M. Ferguson

Job Titles:
  • Professor of Medicinal Chemistry
  • Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry / Professor, Center for Drug Design ( CDD )
David M. Ferguson is a Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, a Fellow of the Supercomputing Institute for Digital Simulation and Advanced Computation, an Associate Director of the Center for Drug Design, and a graduate faculty member of several interdisciplinary programs across the University.

Dr. Robert Vince

Job Titles:
  • Professor and Founding Director, Center for Drug Design ( CDD )
Dr. Robert Vince obtained his doctoral degree in medicinal chemistry in 1966 from the College of Pharmacy at SUNY Buffalo. In 1967 he joined the medicinal chemistry faculty at the University of Minnesota, where he continues to maintain his research program. His invention, the HIV drug, abacavir, was commercialized by GSK and has resulted in generation of revenue more than 600 million US dollars for the University of Minnesota. In 2002, he established the Center for Drug Design within the Academic Health Center of the University of Minnesota. He has been honored for his work by a career development award from NIH (1972-1976), the 1979 University of Minnesota Scholar of the year award, and Certificate of Commendation by the Governor of Minnesota (1989). In recognition of achievements as an inventor, he was honored by the Minnesota Medical Alley, and Award of the New York Cayuga Community College (2002). At University of Minnesota, he is recognized on ‘Scholars Walk and Wall of Discovery' since 2006 and was inducted into the ‘Academy for Excellence in Health Research' by the Academic Health Center of University of Minnesota (2009). He has also been inducted into the Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame (2007), by the American Chemical Society. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science degree by his alma mater, SUNY-Buffalo (2010). The International Society for Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids awarded him the 2010 Imbach Townsend Award. He was inducted in Minnesota Inventors Hall of Fame along with Nobel laureate Dr. Norman Borlaug (posth.), by the Minnesota Inventor's Congress in 2010. He was inducted into the Minnesota Science and Technology Hall of fame in 2011.The significance of his many contributions to the University of Minnesota were recognized by President Kaler with the the presentation of the Inaugural Impact Award in December of 2014. He is also the latest awardee of the Antonin Holy Memorial Award (2016) conferred on him by the International Society of Antiviral Research. Expertise Antiviral drug design Anticancer research Professor Vince's most notable achievement is his design of the drug, ZiagenTM that is marketed worldwide by GlaxoSmithKline for the treatment of AIDS in adults and children. This discovery has led to multiple U.S. and foreign patents. Sales of the drug provided royalties to the University of Minnesota that have exceeded $600 million. The starting chemical for the production of this drug was developed by Professor Vince's laboratory in the late 1970's. This material, referred to by the pharmaceutical industry as "Vince's Lactam", is produced in metric ton quantities by several chemical companies throughout the world. Vince's lactam is now used in the production of several other drugs unrelated to Ziagen. Dr. Vince's most recent research has resulted in the development of an non-invasive method for detection of early Alzheimer's Disease by taking a spectral image of the retina of the eye. He has also developed new candidates for early treatment of Alzheimer's. Katagiri, N.; Kokufuda, H.; Makino, M.; Vince, R.; Kaneko, C., Synthesis of nucleoside and related compounds. 42. Deamination of cyclaradine by adenosine deaminase under high pressure. Nucleosides Nucleotides 1998, 17, 81-89. Vince, R.; Pham, P. T., The synthesis and biological evaluation of sulfamoyl nucleosides related to carbovir and AZT. Nucleosides Nucleotides 1995, 14, 2051-60. Konkel, M. J.; Vince, R., Synthesis and biological activity of cyclohexenyl nucleosides. cis-5-(9H-Purin-9-yl)-3-cyclohexenyl carbinols and their 8-azapurinyl analogs. Nucleosides Nucleotides 1995, 14, 2061-77. Vince, R., Synthesis and anti-HIV activity of carbovir and related carbocyclic nucleosides. Nucleic Acids Symp. Ser. 1991, 25, 193-4. White, E. L.; Parker, W. B.; Macy, L. J.; Shaddix, S. C.; McCaleb, G.; Secrist, J. A., III; Vince, R.; Shannon, W. M., Comparison of the effect of Carbovir, AZT, and dideoxynucleoside triphosphates on the activity of human immunodeficiency virus reverse transcriptase and selected human polymerases. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 1989, 161, 393-8. Dunham, E. W.; Vince, R., Hypotensive and renal vasodilator effects of carbocyclic adenosine (aristeromycin) in anesthetized spontaneously hypertensive rats. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 1986, 238, 954-9. McFarlan, S. C.; Vince, R., Inhibition of peptidyltransferase and possible mode of action of a dipeptidyl chloramphenicol analog. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 1984, 122, 748-54. Lee, H.; Fong, K.-L.; Vince, R., Puromycin analogs. Effect of aryl-substituted puromycin analogs on the ribosomal peptidyltransferase reaction. J. Med. Chem. 1981, 24, 304-8. Vince, R.; Fong, K.-L. L., Peptidyl transferase substrate activity and inhibition of protein biosynthesis by a hydrophilic-aminoacyl analog of puromycin. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 1978, 81, 559-64. Pestka, S.; Weiss, D.; Vince, R., Partition of ribosomes in two-polymer aqueous phase systems. Anal. Biochem. 1976, 71, 137-42. Duquette, P. H.; Ritter, C. L.; Vince, R., Puromycin analogs. Ribosomal binding and peptidyl transferase substrate activity of a carbocyclic analog of 8-azapuromycin. Biochemistry 1974, 13, 4855-9. 13. Nagasawa, H. T.; Goon, D. J. W.; Crankshaw, D. L.; Vince, R. (Regents of the University of Minnesota, USA; Department of Veterans Affairs). Therapeutic methods, compositions, and compounds that can release mercaptopyruvate for use in the treatment of cyanide poisoning. WO 20070628.; SciFinder Scholar 2008:43123. 11. Vince, R.; Hua, M. (University of Minnesota, USA). Preparation of optically active carbocyclic purine 2',3'-didehydro-2',3'-dideoxynucleosides and their analogs as antiviral and antitumor agents. US 19881205.; SciFinder Scholar 1991:43491.

George L. Wilcox

Job Titles:
  • Professor

Harrison VanKoten

Job Titles:
  • People
  • Research Associate - Vince / More Group

Herbert Nagasawa

Job Titles:
  • Adjunct Professor, Center for Drug Design ( CDD )
Oz, H. S.; Chen, C. S.; Nagasawa, H. T. Comparative efficacies of two cysteine prodrugs and a glutathione delivery agent in a colitis model. Translational Res. 2007, 150, 122-129. Shirota, F. N.; DeMaster, E. G.; Lee, M. J. C.; Nagasawa, H. T. Generation of nitric oxide (NO) and possibly nitroxyl (HNO), respectively, by nitrosation of sulfohydroxamic acids and hydroxamic acids. Nitric Oxide 1999, 3, 445-453.

Jacob Mahoney

Job Titles:
  • Senior Scientist
  • People

Jessica M. Williams

Job Titles:
  • Senior Scientist
  • People

Jim Beach

Job Titles:
  • Research Associate
  • People
  • Research Staff

John Goodell

John Goodell, Ph.D. Spring 2006, Synthesis and Evaluation of Heterocyclic Antiviral Agents. (Postdoc - John Porco)

Kumar G. Belani

Job Titles:
  • Professor

Laurent Bonnac

Job Titles:
  • Research Assistant Professor, Center for Drug Design ( CDD )

Lieven J. Stuyver

Inhibitors of the IMPDH enzyme as potential anti-bovine viral diarrhea virus agents. Lieven J. Stuyver, Stefania Lostia, Steven E. Patterson, Jeremy L. Clark, Kyoichi A. Watanabe, Michael J. Otto, and Krzysztof W. Pankiewicz. Antivir. Chem. Chemother. 13(6), 345-52 (2002). Abstract Cytotoxicity and cellular differentiation activity of methylenebis(phosphonate) analogs of tiazofurin and mycophenolic acid adenine dinucleotide in human cancer cell lines. Joel A. Yalowitz, Krzysztof W. Pankiewicz, Steven E. Patterson, and Hiremagalur N. Jayaram. Cancer Lett. 181(1), 31-8 (2002). Abstract

Liqiang Chen

Job Titles:
  • Associate Professor, Center for Drug Design ( CDD )

Louis M. Mansky

Job Titles:
  • Director, Institute for Molecular Virology / Professor, Departments of Microbiology and Diagnostic and Biological Sciences

Merck Research

Job Titles:
  • Advisor

Michael Walters

Job Titles:
  • Research Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry / Director, Combinatorial Chemistry Laboratory for the ITDD

Natalia Tretyakova

Job Titles:
  • Professor

Patterson SE

Polyoxin and nikkomycin analogs: recent design and synthesis of novel peptidyl nucleosides. Jackson KE, Pogula PK, and Patterson SE. Heterocycl Lett. 2013;19:375-86. Abstract

Paul Tuite

Job Titles:
  • Associate Professor, Department of Neurology / Director, Movement Disorders Clinic

Phuong-Truc Thi Pham

Job Titles:
  • Associate Professor of Chemistry / Pennsylvania State University

Prakashkumar Dobariya

Job Titles:
  • People

Prithwish Goswami

Job Titles:
  • People
  • Postdoctoral Associate - Chen Group

Riccardo Petrelli

Job Titles:
  • Associate Professor / School of Pharmacy

Robert J. Geraghty

Job Titles:
  • Professor, Center for Drug Design ( CDD )
  • Professor, Center for Drug Design ( CDD ) Co Director Center for Drug Design
Klyachkin, Y. M.; Stoops, K. D.; Geraghty, R. J. Herpes simplex virus type 1 glycoprotein L mutants that fail to promote trafficking of glycoprotein H and fail to function in fusion can induce binding of glycoprotein L-dependent anti-glycoprotein H antibodies. J. Gen. Virol. 2006, 87, 759-767. Geraghty, R. J.; Jogger, C. R.; Spear, P. G. Cellular expression of alphaherpesvirus gD interferes with entry of homologous and heterologous alphaherpesviruses by blocking access to a shared gD receptor. Virology 2000, 268, 147-158. Schwartz, M. D.; Geraghty, R. J.; Panganiban, A. T. HIV-1 particle release mediated by Vpu is distinct from that mediated by p6. Virology 1996, 224, 302-309. Geraghty, R. J.; Panganiban, A. T. Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Vpu has a CD4- and an envelope glycoprotein-independent function. J. Virol. 1993, 67, 4190-4194.

Roshan Katekar

Job Titles:
  • People

Salomon CE

Total synthesis and biological evaluation of the structure of (+)-transvalencin Z. Nelson KM, Salomon CE, Aldrich CA.Journal of Natural Products 2012, 75, 1037-1043.

Samuel Offei

Job Titles:
  • People
  • Postdoctoral Associate - Wang Group

Serena P. Vue

Job Titles:
  • Financial Reporting Manager
  • People

Sherry Smith

Job Titles:
  • Administrative Manager
  • People

Stephen S. Hecht

Job Titles:
  • Professor and Wallin Chair in Cancer Prevention, Masonic Cancer Center / Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology

Steven E. Patterson

Job Titles:
  • Professor, Center for Drug Design ( CDD )
Cofactor mimics as selective inhibitors of NAD-dependent inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH)--the major therapeutic target. Krzysztof W. Pankiewicz, Steven E. Patterson, Paul L. Black, Hiremagalur N. Jarayam, Dipesh Risal, Barry M. Goldstein, Lieven J. Stuyver, and Raymond F. Schinazi. Curr. Med. Chem. 11(7), 887-900 (2004). Abstract

Swati S. More

Job Titles:
  • Professor, Center for Drug Design ( CDD )

Swetha Rao

Job Titles:
  • People
  • Postdoctoral Associate - More Group

Syafiq Shahari


Thamina Akther

Job Titles:
  • People
  • Postdoctoral Associate - Wang Group

Thomas R. Hoye

Job Titles:
  • Professor / Department of Chemistry

Thomas Shier

Job Titles:
  • Professor

William M. Shannon

Job Titles:
  • Consultant

Won Hee (Harry) Ryu

Job Titles:
  • Senior Computational Scientist
Harry got his BA from Oberlin College in chemistry and mathematics. During his PhD program at the University of Chicago, Harry worked on developing coarse-grained models that capture the nuclear quantum effect using the imaginary path integral formalism. After graduation, Harry worked as a postdoc at Oregon Health & Science University on developing optimal hyperparameters for weighted ensemble simulation. At his staff computational scientist position at the University of Minnesota, Harry will work on various computer-aided drug discovery projects and perform calculations such as ligand docking, homology modeling, and virtual screening.

Yudi Rusman

Job Titles:
  • People
  • Research Associate - Salomon Group

Zakia Belhadj

Job Titles:
  • People
  • Postdoctoral Associate - Xie Group