Biography

Specialties: Application of medicinal chemistry approaches to structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies involving novel ligands for pharmacologically important receptors. Extensive experience in the design, synthesis and characterization of structurally diverse molecules of pharmacological interest that include serotonergic and muscarinic ligands, anticonvulsant agents, SPECT imaging agents, retinoic acid derivatives, and “drug” metabolites (resveratrol, Letrazole). Our current work has identified a series of functionalized heterocyclic ligands with nanomolar affinity for several G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) including muscarinic and serotonin receptor subtypes. These novel compounds have been found to modulate cytokine levels in several models of inflammatory disease. Patents have resulted from our work and we continue to file patents on our new lead compounds.