Principal Research Scholar, Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology - Purdue University - West Lafayette, IN
(2019-11 - 2026-06)
- Working as a senior member of NIH R01 and U54 inter-institutional collaboration teams
- Engaging design, synthesis and biochemical/cell-based assays of v-ATPase inhibitors for anti-viral therapy
- Developing chemistries and production of novel platinum complexes with high aqueous solubility allowing high-dose injection for cyanide antidote therapy and with mitochondria-targeting property
- Accomplishments of various subcontract projects such as photocrosslinking chemical probe based on Supinoxin for target ID and novel fluorescence dye for tissue imaging in live animal
- Training undergraduate and graduate students in the organic chemistry lab
Directing Manager, Research and Development - NB Health Laboratories Inc. - Sapporo, Japan
(2018-05 - 2019-11)
- Managed a team for 4 antibody discovery projects focused on therapeutic antibodies against G-protein coupling receptors (GPCRs)
- Rationally designed an antigen GPCR to generate antagonistic (i.e., not just binding) antibodies
- Supported Company's international business development team
Associate Faculty Member, Department of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics - St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - Memphis, TN
(2013-03 - 2018-05)
- Initiated and implemented 3 medicinal chemistry projects focused on rational approach for sensitizing cancer cells to cisplatin by developing new small-molecules, which resulted in 9 paper publications
- Delivered innovative chemical tools to several labs at St. Jude (e.g., ex vivo clickable chemical probes to specifically label CFTR protein in the cells, custom-made bifunctional protein crosslinkers containing a partial peptide sequence of an enzymatic intermediate of ubiquitin ligase complex to determine the protein structure), which resulted in 6 additional publications
- Generated a licensed commercial research chemical product named T2AA from the chemotherapy sensitization projects
- Developed novel research techniques by generating original chemical tools for directly imaging DNA crosslinking species on cellular nuclei and chemically engineered reporter plasmid DNA that is capable to determine cellular activity of DNA crosslink repair in a highly scalable protocol
- Collaborated with 2 and 3 external labs (University of Michigan, Virginia Tech, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, University of Shizuoka, Osaka Prefecture University) for the chemotherapy sensitization projects and for the chemical tool generations, respectively. Collaborators included experts in structure biology, DNA repair biology, CFTR pharmacology, and parasitology
- Managed and coached interns, postdocs, and staff in my own research group with various expertise including synthetic chemistry, genetics, cell biology, and structure biology
- Provided consultation to an immunology laboratory in St. Jude for medicinal chemistry
- Filed 1 patent for T2AA
Assistant Faculty Member, Department of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics - St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - Memphis, TN
(2006-03 - 2013-02)
- Worked on 2 medicinal chemistry projects to target oncogenic pathways in lung cancer and medulloblastoma. Research lead to 10 papers
- Collaborated with 2 internal and 2 external labs (Yokohama City University, University of Tennessee Health Science Center). These collaborators included experts of genetics, structure biology, cancer biology, and CFTR pharmacology
- Offered institutional services to 15 PIs at St. Jude as a Director of Chemistry Service Lab
- Produced 16 chemical tools that are commercially inaccessible but scientifically important, such as metabolites of clinical drugs, reference compounds to study biology, and custom-made dye for labeling biomolecules. They included deuterio-CEPM, bacteria metabolites, GSK3 inhibitor, Telomerase inhibitor, Thiolactmycin, Shield-1, STORM dye heterodimer, Photocaged glutamate, Caspase-1 inhibitors, Aryl hydrocarbon receptor antagonist, p21 binder, MDMX inhibitors (incl. de novo designed ones), Bromod
- Consulted for chemistry research designs and paper/grant preparations
- Performed literature/patent searching for chemical agents requested from St. Jude PIs
- Performed de novo design of new ligand by docking and molecular-field analysis
- Awarded 4-year grant funding from the American Cancer Society ($720,000, 2012-2015)
- Trained 6 postdoctoral fellows including alumni who are currently a professor and a laboratory head
Assistant Research Chemist, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry - University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) - San Francisco, CA
(2001-01 - 2006-02)
- Worked jointly in 2 research lab for chemistry and cancer biology to create a novel small-molecule inhibitor of an oncogenic pathway (Wnt) in lung cancer. This inhibitor was licensed from UCSF and now commercially distributed. Research lead to 10 papers and 3 filed patents
- Delivered chemical tools to several UCSF laboratories for biochemistry, protein structural study, and genomics, including deuterium-labeled small-molecules, protein crosslinkers, peptidemimetics, and fluorescent dyes for DNA labeling
- Collaborated with 2 internal and 2 external labs (Emory University, Sandia National Laboratories). These collaborators included experts of chemoinformatics, proteomics, biochemistry, and GPCR pharmacology
Senior Research Chemist, Medicinal Chemistry Laboratories - Astellas Pharma Inc. (Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co.) - Osaka, Japan
(1995-04 - 2000-12)
- Worked on 6 medicinal chemistry projects in divergent therapeutic areas including hypercholesterolemia, urinary disorder, and infectious disease to design novel small-molecules. Each project included respective pharmacology and pharmaceutic group work also
- Generated potent anti-hypercholesterolemia agent based on a highly novel heterocyclic scaffold (pyrrolo[1,2-b]pyridazine) - few syntheses were known at that time (1989). Launched pre-clinical trials (large animals) for 2 of the compounds generated above
- Performed scale-up chemical synthesis up to 900 grams of an intermediate and 50 grams of the final compound after a 12-step process and transferred the protocol for process chemistry group
- Filed 15 patents
Research Chemist, Medicinal Chemistry Laboratories - Astellas Pharma Inc. (Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co.) - Osaka, Japan
(1988-04 - 1995-03)
Visiting Fellow, Organometallic Chemistry - Oxford University - Oxford, UK
(1997-01 - 1997-12)
