News and Announcements | Institute of Chemical Biology & Drug Discovery (ICB&DD)

2024 News

New Drug to Control Pain Related to Cancer Treatment Originally Developed at Stony Brook Gets FDA Clearance

Six years ago Stony Brook University through the Research Foundation for the State University of New York licensed a promising technology to Artelo Biosciences that identified Fatty Acid Binding Proteins (FABPs) as drug targets of the body’s endocannabinoid system for a potentially promising way to treat pain, inflammation and cancer. Now the first one of these compounds has been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for human clinical trials. Artelo announced this week that the FDA’s initial approval of one of the FABP5 (5 indicates a specific protein) selective compounds called ART26.12 enables the company to initiate its first human phase 1 single ascending dose study of the drug. The company states that ART26.12 will address a critical need for cancer patients, treating chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. Phase 1 clinical trials are expected to be launched internationally during the first half of 2025. The work on FABPs originated with Iwao Ojima, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Stony Brook University, Martin Kaczocha, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology in the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, and Dale Deutsch, PhD, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Stony Brook University, a research collaboration affiliated with the ICB&DD. They identified the action of FABPs as drug targets. Specifically, FABP5 was identified as the intracellular transporter for the endocannabinoid anandamide (AEA), a neurotransmitter produced in the brain that binds to cannabinoid receptors. (Read more)from Stony Brook News July 17, 2024.

Artelo Biosciences Receives FDA Clearance of its IND Application for ART26.12, a Selective Fatty Acid Binding Protein 5 Inhibitor

Artelo Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARTL), a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on modulating lipid-signaling pathways to develop treatments for people living with cancer, pain, dermatologic and neurological conditions, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a “Study May Proceed” letter for the Company’s Investigational New Drug (IND) application for ART26.12, for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). FDA clearance of the ART26.12 IND application enables the Company to initiate its first-in-human Phase 1 single ascending dose study. Study startup activities have been initiated in collaboration with the internationally known contract research organization Worldwide Clinical Trials. (Read more )from Solana Beach, California, July 15, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE).

ICB&DD Welcomes Dr. Ivet Bahar as a new member of ICB&DD. Dr. Bahar is currently the Director of the Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology. She is the Louis and Beatrice Laufer Endowed Chair of Physical and Quantitative Biology and is also a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology in the Renaissance School of Medicine. She is a structural and computational biologist and an internationally renowned scientist. Prior to coming to Stony Brook University, she was named distinguished professor in the Department of Computational and Systems Biology. She was also the John K. Vries Chair in the Department of Computational Biology, and the founding director of the Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Bahar is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has more than 340 publications. She is known for pioneering novel models and methods in structural and computational and molecular biophysics, including the widely used Elastic Network Models for protein dynamics. Dr. Ivet Bahar will soon become an invaluable member in multiple research programs of ICB&DD.

Ojima Distinguished Lectureship Award in Chemistry - Dr. Hiroaki Suga, Honoree (2024)

suoj The Institute of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery (ICB&DD), Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences and Office of the Provost hosted the “Distinguished Lectureship Award in Chemistry”, honoring distinguished lecturer Dr. Hiroaki Suga on April 26, 2024. The event took place in the Charles Wang Center, SBU. (Read more)from SBU News

To view photo albun of this event, click the link below

https://photos.app.goo.gl/C7J6kWsMsBx7tzs58

https://photos.app.goo.gl/RV8sqjuXzJ1Xd2TE6

Advancing Technology to Improve the Therapeutic Effect of Radionuclide Therapy for Cancer

Dr, Jacob Houghton, ICB&DD Member and Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology in the Renaissance School of Medicine (RSOM), and researcher in the Stony Brook Cancer Center, conducts research on targeted radionuclide therapy for diagnosing and treating cancer. Together with Dr. Vilma I.J. Jallinoja, PhD, developed a new technology that overcomes several hurdles to more widespread use of radionuclide therapy. The platform involves using a small molecule that is labeled with a therapeutic radionuclide known as a radioligand, along with a modified monoclonal antibody – such as those used in immunotherapies to target cancer cells – in a two-step process. The platform enabled them to use the specificity of monoclonal antibodies to target cancer and take advantage of a small molecule radioligand in a manner that retains the efficacy of the therapy while substantially improving the safety through a reduction in radiation toxicity. Dr. Houghton will continue to collaborate with scientists at Perspective Therapeutics as they further develop the technology. Dr. Jallinoja is no longer at Stony Brook.

“Our technology allows the use of such molecules for imaging and therapy while abrogating the concerns of radiation toxicity by using a pre-targeting technique which enables us to ‘label’ the biological molecule after it has been delivered to the target tissue and cleared from peripheral tissues,” explains Dr. Houghton. (Read more)from Stony Brook News March 18, 2024.

ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Anissa Abi-Dargham as a new member of ICB&DD. Dr Abi-Dargham is currently a Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, the Lourie Endowed Chair in Psychiatry and Director of the Multi-Modal Translational Imaging Lab. She is also Associate Dean and Associate Vice President for Clinical and Translational Science in the Stony Brook Renaissance Scholl of Medicine. Dr. Abi-Dargham is an expert in the areas of molecular imaging, pharmacology, schizophrenia, addiction, and translational science. Dr. Abi-Dargham employs the use of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging to study the neurobiology of schizophrenia and mental illnesses. Her research has resulted in seminal findings describing the complex alterations of dopamine transmission in schizophrenia and their relationship to clinical symptoms, cognition, and response to treatment. She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the Principal Investigator of the Long Island Network for Clinical and Translational Science. Dr. Abi-Dargham will soon become an invaluable member in multiple research programs of ICB&DD.

ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Stuti Sharma as a new member of ICB&DD. Dr. Stuti Sharma received her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from SUNY Upstate Medical University under the mentorship of Dr. Stephan Wilkens. She did her postdoctoral research with Dr. Maofu Liao in the Department of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Stony Brook Renaissance School of Medicine. Currently the research in her laboratory employs cryo electron microscopy coupled with biochemical and biophysical tools to understand the molecular mechanisms of membrane proteins. Dr. Sharma’s research laboratory employs cryo electron microscopy coupled with biochemical and biophysical tools to understand the molecular mechanisms of membrane proteins. Particularly, the main interest in her studies is understanding the molecular mechanism of how an ATP-dependent proton pump called the vacuolar ATPase (V-ATPase) multitasks to participate in metabolic signaling, autophagy and immune response, with implications in cancer and neurodegeneration. Dr. Stuti Sharma will soon become an invaluable member in multiple research programs of ICB&DD.

ICB&DD welcomes Markus Riessland as a new member of ICB&DD. Dr. Markus Riessland is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior of Stony Brook Renaissance School of Medicine. Dr. Riessland is a trained molecular biologist with a background in neuroscience, human genetics and neurodegenerative diseases. Early in his career, Dr. Riessland was involved in several internationally funded projects, where he performed and published studies on epigenetic modifiers as a potential therapy for the neurodegenerative disease spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). His research is particularly focused on the identification and characterization of neuron-specific disease-modifying factors that may facilitate the development of novel therapeutic strategies for degenerative disorders of the central nervous system. Currently, his lab uses stem cell-based approaches as well as mouse models and next generation sequencing techniques (TRAP-seq, RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, scRNA-seq etc.) to tackle the questions where and how cellular senescence in the brain can occur and spread, which cell types are involved and what the molecular triggers are. Moreover, his lab’s research aims to interfere with the aging process by ameliorating the unwanted negative effects of cellular senescence. He received his PhD from the University Cologne, Institute for Human Genetics, Germany. Dr. Riessland will soon become an invaluable member in multiple research programs of ICB&DD.

2023 News

ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Jeffrey Lipshultz as a new member of ICB&DD. Dr Lipshultz is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Stony Brook University, where his group develops new synthetic organic reactions using light-driven catalysis through precise tuning of catalytically-generated photoactive species. These photoactive species include organic, organometallic, and biomacromolecular scaffolds. His new organic and organometallic chemistry group is interested in exploiting unique photochemical phenomena for the development of new synthetic transformations. Dr. Lipshultz received an A.B. in Chemistry from Harvard College, where he conducted research with Professor Andrew Myers, followed by a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Princeton University, working in the lab of 2022 Nobel Laureate Professor David MacMillan. Dr. Lipshultz was a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Environmental Chemistry Fellow (2018-2020) and postdoctoral associate (2020-2022) with Prof. Alexander Radosevich at MIT prior to joining the faculty at Stony Brook. Dr. Lipshultz has expertise in synthetic organic chemistry relevant to medicinal chemistry and chemical biology.

https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/chemistry/faculty/_faculty-profiles/Lipshultz_Jeffrey.php

ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Matthew Parker as a new member of ICB&DD. Dr. Parker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Health, Renaissance School of Medicine. He received his B.S. in chemistry, (Honors, Cum Laude) and M.S in material sciences from Binghamton University. He received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh under the guidance of David Waldeck working on the first ever measurements of electron transfer between a donor-acceptor pair in water at ambient conditions. He completed his postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Francisco in the Department of Radiology & Biomedical Imaging where he worked with Drs. Michael Evans and David Wilson. Dr. Parker’s current research laboratory group at Stony Brook University is focused on developing radiolabeling approaches for solid support cleavage reactions as well as developing novel radiotracers to image psychiatric and neurological disorders. Dr. Parker has expertise in chemistry and biology of PET imaging for diagnosis and therapeutics.

Congratulations to ICB&DD Member, Dr. Jingfang Ju, Professor in the Department of Pathology for being on the cover of the International Journal of Oncology (Int. J. Oncol.) for the month of July 2023. The International Journal of Oncology is an international journal devoted to oncology research and cancer treatment. Dr. Ju continues to be recognized for his research on understanding the molecular mechanism of non-coding RNAs in cancer and cancer stem cells. Dr. Ju laboraoty studies the mechanisms of microRNAs (miRNAs) in cancer stem cell resistance, epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), autophagy, and apoptosis. (See more)

Ojima Distinguished Lectureship Award in Chemistry - Dr. John Hartwig, Honoree (2023)

The Institute of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery (ICB&DD), Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences and Office of the Provost hosted the “Distinguished Lectureship Award in Chemistry”, honoring distinguished lecturer Professor John Hartwig on May 5, 2023. The event took place in the Charles Wang Center, SBU.

(Read more) To view photo albun of this event, click the link below

https://photos.app.goo.gl/iHivwbEFfpQYvYc5A

To view the video of this event click the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz1UH4l_zP0&list=PL913938DD774F23D9&index=1

TVM Capital Life Science (TVM) is committing up to $24 million for a development program to advance NE-DHA-SBT-1214, Dr. Iwao Ojima's compound, to market for the treatment of colorectal cancer and other solid tumors.

TVM

For the past few decades, Dr. Iwao Ojima has been working in his Stony Brook University Department of Chemistry Laboratory and through the Institute of Chemical Biology & Drug Discovery (ICB&DD) to develop next-generation anti-cancer agents. One of these agents – a second-generation taxane conjugate in a nanoemulsion formulation (called NE-DHA-SBT-1214) – has shown great promise against solid tumors – particularly against colorectal cancer. The taxane compounds were licensed to a Stony Brook University spinout, TargaGenix, Inc., in 2016, to advance their development toward clinical use. Since then, TargaGenix has further developed the compounds, addressing formulation, toxicity and in vivo efficacy, and has now attracted significant investment into NE-DHA-SBT-1214.

TargaGenix plans to work with its partners to develop the new taxane as a stand-alone drug, as well as look to use it in combination with other treatment modalities, including immune-oncology agents. The company and its collaborators expect to advance the drug development into clinical testing in humans in the near future. (Read more) from SBU News (Read more) from InnovateLI.com news

2022 News

Dr. Makoto Fujita, Inaugural Award Lecturer of the Ojima Distinguished Lectureship Award in Chemistry

The Institute of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery (ICB&DD), Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences and Office of the Provost hosted Dr. Makoto Fujita, Distinguished Professor from The University of Tokyo who gave the inaugural lecture at the "Ojima Distinguished Lectureship Award in Chemistry" on April 29, 2022 at the Wang Center, SBU. (Read more)

To view the video of this event click the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqq-rg3Q8Zo&t=122s

Congratulations to Michael Airola and Eszter Boros, named 2022 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellows

ICB&DD Members, Michael Airola (Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology) and Eszter Boros (Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry) were among 118 early-career scholars from across the United States and Canada to be recognized by the Sloan Research Fellowship Program, which rewards outstanding early-career faculty who have the potential to revolutionize their fields of study. The fellowships seek to stimulate fundamental research by scientists and scholars of outstanding promise. These two-year, $75,000 fellowships are awarded yearly to early-career researchers in recognition of distinguished performance and a unique potential to make substantial contributions to their field. The Airola lab at the Stony Brook Cancer Center studies lipid metabolism with a specific focus on enzymes that modify lipids and are relevant to cancer, cardiovascular disease and fungal infections. The goals of this research are to understand how the shape of these proteins determines their function and to develop small molecule inhibitors that can be used to treat disease. Notable achievements include the determination of the first structures of human phospholipase D, which is a therapeutic target for cancer, and a lipin phosphatidic acid phosphatase that regulates fat storage as triglycerides. Boros won the 2021 Stony Brook Discovery Prize for her presentation on “Activation of anticancer drug molecules with a radioactive light switch,” which explained her goal to make diagnostics and therapeutics more specific to cancer cells. She was also named a Moore Inventor Fellow in 2020. Research in the Boros lab explores the structural and chemical diversity of metal complexes paired with their versatile luminescent and radioactive properties as metal-based imaging probes and therapeutics for cancer and infection.(Read more) from Stony Brook News

Michael Airola receives 2022 Walter Shaw Young Investigator Award in Lipids

Airola Congratulations to Michael Airola, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology for receiving the 2022 Walter Shaw Young Investigator Award in Lipids. Airola’s lab studies the molecular details of lipid metabolism and transport and seeks to develop new pharmacological tools that inhibit lipid-modifying enzymes for the treatment of cancer and fungal disease (read more).

2021 News

SBU Researchers Discover Possible New Approach for Developing Antifungal Drugs

The last drug designed to more effectively treat dangerous systemic fungal infections, most often affecting immunocompromised patients, was developed more than 20 years ago. Now an interdisciplinary team of investigators from Stony Brook University believe they have identified what may be a new approach toward developing another class of better antifungal agents.

(Read more)

ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Jacob Houghton as a new member of ICB&DD. Dr. Houghton is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology, SBU Renaissance School of Medicine. He is currently a member of the Imaging, Biomarker Discovery and Engineering Sciences Research Program. His main research interests and expertise are: Radiochemistry, Molecular imaging with a focus on novel PET tracers for cancer, Medicinal Chemistry, Nuclear medicine approaches for pancreatic and colorectal cancer, Utilizing molecular imaging for personalized medicine Image guided drug development, Targeted radioisotope therapy (Radioimmunothearpy), Development of novel platforms for drug delivery and molecular imaging and Antbody-based PET imaging (ImmunoPET). Dr. Houghton received his B.A. AS Certified Chemistry from Carleton College in Northfield MN and his Ph.D in Medicinal Chemistry, Certificate in Cellular Biotechnology from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

https://cancer.stonybrookmedicine.edu/CancerResearch/Programs/ImagingBiomarkerDiscovery/Houghton

ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Donghui Zhu as a new member of ICB&DD. Dr. Zhu is a currently a Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Stony Brook University. He is also the Director of The Engineering-Meets-Medicine Laboratory (EMML) at SBU. The lab is interested in interdisciplinary and translational research that leverages the engineering advances in biomaterials, nanotechnology, medical implants, and neuroscience for innovative and better clinical solutions to emerging problems in regenerative medicine, cardiovascular disease, orthopedics, aging and dementia. State-of-art facilities are available across the campus with a very collaborative environment at SBU. Dr. received his Ph.D. in Bioengineering, from the University of Missouri, Columbia, MO.

https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/bme/people/d_zhu.php

ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Patrick Hearing, as a new member of ICB&DD. Dr. Hearing received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 1980. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. He has been at Stony Brook University for over 35 years. Dr. Hearing is an educator and world-renowned molecular virologist whose laboratory research centers on the DNA tumor virus Adenovirus, its implications in cancer, and the development of gene therapies for the treatment of disease. Dr. Hearing is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. The Academy is the prestigious leadership group of the American Society of Microbiology (ASM), the world’s oldest and largest life science organization. He is also a member of a National Institutes of Health Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) with other experts from various fields of science, medicine, and ethics, who evaluate recombinant DNA research endeavors and gene therapy clinical trials across the country. To learn more about Dr. Patrick Hearing’s research please visit his website: https://renaissance.stonybrookmedicine.edu/mi/program/faculty/hearing-p?s=research

ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Janet Hearing, as a new member of ICB&DD. Dr. Hearing received his Ph.D. in Microbiology from Stony Brook University in 1984. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and has been at Stony Brook University since 1992. Dr. Hearing’s research focuses on the development of antiviral drugs to combat COVID-19. Her research laboratory in collaboration with other research groups in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, are determining if interferon lambda can reduce morbidity and mortality in an animal model of infection. In a separate collaboration, they are also testing candidate antiviral compounds for their ability to prevent proteolytic processing of the viral polyproteins by the viral protease Mpro and thereby inhibit viral replication at a very early stage. To learn more about Dr. Janet Hearing’s research please visit his website: https://renaissance.stonybrookmedicine.edu/mi/program/faculty/hearing-j?s=research

ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Congwu Du, as a new member of ICB&DD. Dr. Du received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Luebeck University, Germany in 1996. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Biochemistry and Biophysics at University of Pennsylvania from 1996-1997 and worked as a Research Associate at the NIH Pittsburgh NMR Center for Biomedical Research & (NSF) Center for Light Microscope Imaging & Biotechnology, Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Du is currently a Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Stony Brook University. She is the principal investigator of the Brain Optical Imaging Laboratory. Theh main research goal of her laboratory is to develop advanced optical instrumentation to detect and characterize physiological processes in living biological systems such as brain and heart. More specifically, cutting-edge optical spectroscopy and imaging techniques are developed that permit simultaneous detection of cerebral blood flow, blood volume and tissue oxygenation, as well as intracellular calcium in vivo. Dr. Du’s research laboratory is interested in studying drug-induced abnormalities of the brain function. To learn more about Dr. Wu’s research please visit his website: https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/bme/people/c_du.php

Congratulations to Michael Airola recipient of the 2022 Walter Shaw Young Investigator Award in Lipids

Congratulations to Michael Airola, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology for receiving the 2022 Walter Shaw Young Investigator Award in Lipids. Airola’s lab studies the molecular details of lipid metabolism and transport and seeks to develop new pharmacological tools that inhibit lipid-modifying enzymes for the treatment of cancer and fungal disease (read more).

Congratulations to Wali Karzai appointed Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology

Congratulations ICB&DD Member Wali Karzai

Congratulations to Alfredo Fontantini appointed Vice-Provost for Research and Infrastructure

Congratulations ICB&DD Member Alfredo Fontantini

Congratulations to Maurizio Del Poeta for being elected to the American Academy of Microbiology as Fellow

ICB&DD congratulates Dr. Maurizio Del Poeta for being elected to Fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology . Dr. Maurizio del Poeta, MD is a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Stony Brook University Renaissance School of Medicine and a physician scientist at the VA Hospital in Northport NY. The American Academy of Microbiology is the prestigious leadership group of the American Society of Microbiology (ASM), the world’s oldest and largest life science organization.

Dr. Maurizio Del Poeta is internationally recognized for his pioneering work in lipid-mediated infectious diseases. He received his medical degree from University of Ancona, Italy and performed a research fellowship training at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC. He then was appointed as an Assistant Professor at Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC where he rose to the rank of full Professor with tenure. He has been a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at SBU Renaissance School of Medicine where he joined in 2012. Since his tenure at SBU, Dr. Del Poeta and his research group has impressively contributed a great deal. His team has persistently tackled opportunistic fungal infections, a critical and growing problem among immunocompromised individuals. He has pioneered the study of unique metabolic pathways in fungal infections, and that led his group to identify several new enzymes involved in fungal pathogenesis, especially enzymes of lipid metabolism. He is now considered an undisputed leader of the fungal-lipid field.

Dr. Del Poeta recently collaborated with Novartis on the adverse effects of Fingolimod, a drug currently in the clinic for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. Because of his expertise in lipid biochemistry and fungal pathogenesis, Novartis contacted Dr. Del Poeta as several patients receiving fingolimod developed cryptococcosis. These studies were recently published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation and may change the way patients with multiple sclerosis have been clinically treated.

Dr. Del Poeta’s work on antifungal development expands even further. His discoveries prompted the starting of a new start-up company, MicroRid Technologies Inc., which under his leadership, he secured over $6M of funding for continuing the research and development of the new antifungal compounds discovered in his research laboratory. Their primary goal is to develop / optimize compounds that inhibit fungal specific targets in the lipid pathway and perform preclinical development studies for the Investigational New Drug (IND) filing with the FDA.

Dr. Del Poeta is also a strong advocate and highly active in the Stony Brook University plan for equity, inclusion and diversity. Currently, he is mentoring a PhD student in his lab who is deaf. He is the only deaf student at SBU. This reflects Dr. Del Poeta’s commitment towards education and the improvement of a more inclusive university for the students, irrespectively of their background. He has also been a regular visiting scientist and educator at the University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil where he teaches a microbiology course and gives several lectures every year. Dr. Del Poeta is well known for being a passionate educator and exuding a contagious energy and excitement.

Eszter Boros, Assistant Professor of the Department of Chemistry was announced as the winner of the 2021 Stony Brook Discovery Prize on April 28 (read more)

Congratulations to Professor Iwao Ojima Elected to European Academy of Sciences

Professor Ojima will be honored at the induction ceremony of new members at EurASc’s Annual Symposium and Ceremony of Awards event this April at the Sorbonne University in Paris, France, which will be held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Read more)

2020 News

ICB&DD Panel Discussions on "Potential Therapeutics Discovery Against Covid-19/SARS-CoV -2 at ICB&DD/SBU"

ICB&DD held two panel discussions on "Potential Therapeutics Discovery Against Covid-19/SARS-CoV -2 at ICB&DD/SBU" on September 18 and October 16. The first panel discussions featured SBU’s Covid-19 Seed Grant recipients who are ICB&DD members from its Structural Biology and Computational Biology Programs, and Infectious Diseases Research Program, as shown below:

Carlos Simmerling (Chemistry/Laufer Center), Peter Tonge (Chemistry), Dima Kozakov (Applied Math), Miguel Garcia-Diaz (Pharmacology), David Thanassi (Microbiology and Immunology) and Markus Seeliger (Pharmacology).

The novel drug discovery and development takes very long and thus, it may not be relevant for immediate solution, although it would become an important stepstone. Accordingly, repurposing of the existing FDA-approved drugs and experimental drug candidates in clinical trials may become quite relevant. This means that in silico screening of these molecules to putative targets and in vitro antiviral activity assays to select candidates would be the feasible approach. Of course, NIH and many other institutions should be working on this and thus there will be many competitors. Nevertheless, it would be a meaningful endeavor for us to attack this very serious problem here at Stony Brook. Therefore, discussions were focused on the approach mentioned above in the first Panel Discussion. Then, it became very clear that we have very strong computational, medicinal and biological expertise to tackle this challenging medical problem. To be competitive, however, it would be necessary to involve the biostatistics experts on campus, as well as infectious disease clinicians, exploring new and critical angles. The second Panel Discussion featured clinical experts in infectious diseases, specifically for Covid-19 patientsas well as experts in biostatistics and artificial intelligence, as shown below:

Bettina Fries (Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases), Joel Saltz (Chair, Biomedical Informatics), IV Ramakrishnan (Institute for AI-Driven Discovery and Innovation) and Adam Rosebrock (Pathology)

The Panel Discussion went well and a lot of useful information was shared among the participated ICB&DD members.

Eszter Boros named a 2020 Moore Inventor Fellow by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Congratulations to Dr. Eszter Boros, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, was named a 2020 Moore Inventor Fellow by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The fellowship supports scientist-inventors who create new tools and technologies with a high potential to accelerate progress in the foundation’s areas of interest: scientific discovery, environmental conservation and patient care. Dr. Boros was nominated for the fellowship based on the commercial potential of her research, combining a radioactive targeted molecular probe and therapeutic that has the potential to provide pre-operative nuclear imaging and subsequent radiotherapeutic intervention for incurable prostate cancer.

This year, the Moore Foundation received nearly 200 nominations, from which five fellows were selected. Each fellow receives a total of $825,000 over three years to drive their invention forward, which includes $50,000 per year from their home institution as a commitment to these outstanding individuals. (Taken from the Stony Brook University News). For more information please see links below.

https://news.stonybrook.edu/facultystaff/eszter-boros-named-2020-moore-inventor-fellow/

https://www.moore.org/article-detail?newsUrlName=gordon-and-betty-moore-foundation-announces-2020-moore-inventor-fellows&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=mailchimp&utm_campaign=mif&utm_term=2020

ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Lloyd Trotman, as a new member of ICB&DD . Dr. Trotman is currently Professor and Cancer Center Deputy Director of Education and Diversity at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Dr. Trotman received his PhD degree in Biochemistry from University of Zurich, Switzerland in 2001. He performed his research postdoctoral training at Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, NY (2001-2006). He then joined Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory as Assistant Professor in 2006 and moved to the rank of full Professor in 2017. Dr. Trotman’s main are of interest is cancer research. Through his research, he strives to help turn lethal prostate cancer into a curable disease. His research group aims to make the best model of lethal prostate cancer (PC). Most recently, they have developed RapidCaP, the first genetically engineered mouse (GEM) model for live imaging and therapy of endogenous metastatic PC1. An exceptional feature of our GEM model is that mice succumb to the endogenous metastatic disease burden, after it has spread from bone to visceral organs, as is the case in men. RapidCaP is a unique system used for analysis and therapy of PC metastasis1,2,3. The second interest of his work is to understand phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) function and regulation. His research group has recently defined the nuclear import receptor of PTEN and published a milestone discovery, showing that endocytic vesicle membranes are a major site for PTEN action4. This finding has huge ramifications for timing and localization of signaling in the PI 3-Kinase pathway. Dr. Trotman will be a superb addition to the ICB&DD Cancer Research Program. (read more)

Chembio Develops Rapid COVID-19 Test

cv1 Chembio Diagnostics, a Long Island company which focuses on developing tests for infectious diseases, on March 20 said it obtained the order from Bio-Manguinhos for its DPP COVID-19 IgM/IgG System. Chembio’s product is a single-use, rapid point-of-care test that detects certain antibodies to COVID-19 in blood via fingerstick, using a handheld analyzer. The company uses a patented technology requiring a small drop of blood from the fingertip and a disposable test to provide results in approximately 15 minutes. The company said the order “to support the urgent needs of Brazil’s Ministry of Health” was with the Bio-Manguinhos subsidiary of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation or Fiocruz, responsible for developing and producing vaccines, diagnostics and biopharmaceuticals, primarily for Brazil’s national public health system. Chembio also said it will begin testing the DPP COVID-19 IgM/IgG system at multiple sites in the United States. “The testing program has been designed to generate the clinical validation data that Chembio needs in order to submit the DPP COVID-19 IgM/IgG System for emergency use authorization by the FDA and to commercially launch the system under new FDA guidelines,” the company said in a written statement. Javan Esfandari, Chembio’s chief science and technology officer, said the “test will detect the presence of antibodies in blood indicating that a person had an immune response” to COVID-19 “regardless of whether symptoms developed from infection or if the infection was asymptomatic.” Chembio already has supplied Bio-Manguinhos with tests to detect HIV and other infectious diseases. The company’s Brazilian subsidiary has filed for approval from ANVISA, the Brazilian health regulatory agency, for the DPP COVID-19 IgM/IgG System under that country’s emergency use authorization program. (Taken from the Long Island Press)

https://www.longislandpress.com/2020/03/22/hauppauge-based-chembio-develops-rapid-covid-19-test/

cv2 Chembio and LumiraDx Announce COVID-19 Strategic Partnership

Chembio Diagnostics, a leading point-of-care diagnostic company focused on infectious diseases, today announced that it has entered into a worldwide strategic partnership with LumiraDx Limited to develop point-of-care (POC) diagnostic tests for the detection of the COVID-19 virus and IgM and IgG antibodies on both the LumiraDx and Chembio DPP platforms.

“We are pleased to expand our relationship with Chembio as our partner given the company’s expertise and speed in developing high-quality point-of-care assays. By joining forces and bringing together the best of these two companies, we believe we will become the chosen approach for the detection and monitoring of the COVID-19 virus, which has become a worldwide pandemic,” stated Ron Zwanziger, LumiraDx's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We are very excited to join with LumiraDx in this strategic partnership, which demonstrates our scientific expertise and the versatility of our DPP platform,” stated Gail Page, Chembio's Interim Chief Executive Officer. “Through our joint efforts, we expect the new products to provide comprehensive solutions to the new demands surrounding the worldwide testing needs for COVID‑19.”

About Chembio Diagnostics, Chembio is a leading point-of-care diagnostics company focused on detecting and diagnosing infectious diseases. The company’s patented DPP technology platform, which uses a small drop of blood from the fingertip, provides high-quality, cost-effective results in approximately 15 minutes. Coupled with Chembio’s extensive scientific expertise, its novel DPP technology offers broad market applications beyond infectious disease, a number of which applications are under active development with collaboration partners. Chembio’s products are sold globally, directly and through distributors, to hospitals and clinics, physician offices, clinical laboratories, public health organizations, government agencies, and consumers. Learn more at www.chembio.com. (From press release of Mar 12, 2020)

Congratulations to Dr. Iwao Ojima and his team, Dr. Martin Kaczocha, Dr. Robert Rizzo (ICB&DD) and Dr. Lloyd Trotman (Cold Spring Harbor), who received a $4.2 million five- year grant from the National Cancer Institute. Their project entitled “Development of the Next Generation of FABP5 Inhibitors to Treat Prostate Cancer” will investigate a specific fatty acid binding protein (FABP) inhibitors for the treatment of drug- resistant and metastatic prostate cancer, either by themselves or in combination with other therapeutics.

Congratulations to Dr. Lori Chan for being awarded the ASPET Division for Molecular Pharmacology –Early Career Award

(from Department of Pharmacology News)

2019 News

Congratulations to ICB&DD Member Jingfang Ju for his research on New Anti-Cancer Therapies (from SB News)

New anti-cancer therapies could result from a technology that manipulates microRNAs (miRNAs) developed by Jingfang Ju, a biochemist and Professor in the Department of Pathology at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University. The method may prove to be particularly effective against chemotherapy resistant cancers such as colorectal cancer. To advance the science of this method and develop miRNA-based drugs, the technology has been licensed to Curamir Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company, through an agreement with the Research Foundation of the State University of New York.

Dr. Ju and colleagues have studied the relationship between miRNAs and cancer at Stony Brook for more than 10 years. The role of miRNAs is to regulate protein synthesis and allows cells to rapidly adopt to their environment, such as the introduction of cancer chemotherapy agents. As a whole, miRNAs promote, or hinder, cellular processes that fight cancer. Certain miRNAs function as tumor suppressors. Dr. Ju and his team have identified multiple miRNAs that function as tumor suppressors in cancer. When cancer occurs, these miRNAs cease to function properly due to abnormal expression, thus promoting cancer and chemotherapy resistance. “Our laboratory has modified these tumor suppressive miRNAs to make them more stable and effective as potential novel therapeutic molecules,” Ju said.

“From that we have created a miRNA drug development platform technology that is designed to treat chemotherapy-resistant colorectal cancer, and potentially for other forms of cancer such as pancreatic, gastric, lung and breast.” Curamir will take the proprietary miRNA engineering platform to develop anticancer drugs based on the tumor suppressive miRNA mimics identified by Dr. Ju and colleagues. An incubated company financed by Delos Capital, Curamir will begin developing these drugs for testing with an initial $10 million in financing from Delos Capital. The company is co-founded by veteran scientists in the field of gene regulation, including Dr. Ju; Dr. James Watson, co-discoverer of the DNA structure and a 1962 Nobel Laureate; and Dr. Lan Bo Chen, Professor Emeritus of Pathology at Harvard Medical School and Academician of the Academia Sinica of Taiwan.

Research leading to the development of the miRNA drug platform was funded in part by grants from the Long Island Bioscience Hub, led by the Center for Biotechnology at Stony Brook University, under the National Institutes of Health REACH program, as well as the National Cancer Institute.

Please see link for article featured in the SBU News https://news.stonybrook.edu/sb_medicine/new-anti-cancer-therapies-could-result-from-microrna-technology/?spotlight=2

ICB&DD 13^th Annual Symposium

“Frontiers of Infectious Disease Control”

We are pleased to announce the ICB&DD 13^th Annual Symposium, “Frontiers of Infectious Disease Control”, which will be held at the Charles B. Wang Center on Thursday, October 10 2019 (9:00AM–5:00PM; Reception 5:00–6:00PM). The ICB&DD Annual Symposium is thematically focused on cutting-edge advances in chemical biology, structural and computational biology, cancer and infectious diseases, and drug discovery. The Symposium invites renowned scholars in the field as well as highly recognized researchers on campus to present their exciting accomplishments and stimulate the exchange of innovative ideas among speakers, faculty, staff, and students on campus as well as researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, academia and industries in the greater NY metropolitan area.

The Plenary Lecturers this year are:

Dr. Alita Miller, Entasis Therapeutics

Dr. Marvin Miller, University of Notre Dame

Dr. Michal Olszewski, University of Michigan Medical School

Dr. John Perfect, Duke University, School of Medicine

Dr. Peter Smith, Genentech

Dr. Peter Tonge, Stony Brook University

Dr. Gerry Wright, McMaster University

There will be poster sessions on recently completed and ongoing projects conducted in the ICB&DD member's laboratories as well as relevant research laboratories in the area. Awards will be given to the best three posters.

We are looking forward to another stimulating and productive symposium!

Congratulations to Cindy Leiton, Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Laboratory of ICB&DD Member, Kenneth Shroyer for being awarded a National Pancreas Foundation Research Grant

cindy Dr. Cindy Leiton, a senior postdoctoral trainee in the lab of Drs. Kenneth Shroyer and Luisa Escobar-Hoyos has been awarded the National Pancreas Foundation Research Grant to support her research that is focused on the Therapeutic Targeting of the Most Aggressive Molecular Subtype of Pancreatic Cancer. This award recognizes young talent that hold promise as the next leaders of pancreatic disease research. Cindy's application was one of three cancer research proposals that were selected from a national pool of 60 applications.

Dr. Leiton seeks to develop novel therapeutic strategies to target Keratin 17, a negative prognostic biomarker that identifies the most lethal form of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and is a potential drug target. The project will leverage the developing patient-derived tissue libraries housed in the SBU Biobank (in collaboration with Dr. Richard Kew), and brings together a collaborative team of experts in drug development (with Dr. Nashaat Turkman, Department of Radiology and Dr. Iwao Ojima, Department of Chemistry), and Dr. Asfar Azmi, who has a lead role in an on-going clinical trial at the Karmanos Cancer Center of Wayne State University.

Congratulations to ICB&DD Member, Jarrod French for receiving the ACS Infectious Diseases Young Investigator Award

jar Dr. Jarrod French, Assistant Professor of the Department of Chemistry, and Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology has been chosen as one of the 2019 awardees for the “American Chemical Society (ACS) Infectious Diseases Young Investigator Award.” The Young Investigator Award is collaboration between ACS Infectious Diseases and the ACS Division of Biological Chemistry recognizing three outstanding young investigators in the field of infectious diseases. As an awardee, he will receive a plaque, a $1,000 cash award, and up to $500 in travel reimbursement. He is also invited to present his research at the ACS Infectious Diseases/ACS Division of Biological Chemistry Young Investigator Award Symposium at the 2019 ACS Fall National Meeting to be held in San Diego, California.

2018 News

ICB&DD Twelveth Annual Symposium

Symp

(from left to right) Drs. Jonathan Rudick, Stanislaus Wong, Iwao Ojima, Miqin Zhang,James Tour,

Mansoor Amiji,,Wenbin Lin, Henry Hess and Joachim Kohn.

wong On Thursday, October 11, 2018, the ICB&DD hosted its Twelveth Annual Symposium entitled, “Frontiers in Nanomedicine: Drug Delivery, Therapeutics and Diagnosis” at the Charles B. Wang Center, Stony Brook University. The obeid Symposium featured seven Plenary Lecturers. Dr. Stanislaus Wong, represented the Department of Chemistry of Stony Brook University. The event was attended by a diversified audience composed of faculty, research staff and students on campus. The Poster Session equally attracted participation from students from Stony Brook University. There were 49 scientific posters presented at the Poster Session.

Dr. Stanislaus Wong Professor of Chemistry and Chair of the Symposium Organizing Committee opened the Symposium and introduced Dr. Lina Obeid, Dean of Research, Stony Brook University iwao School of Medicine who gave the welcoming remarks for the Symposium. Then Dr. Wong introduced Dr. Iwao Ojima, Distinguished Professor and Director of ICB&DD. Dr. Ojima concisely summarized the history of accomplishments and the current and future goals of ICB&DD.

Dr. Dale Drueckhammer, Professor, Department of Chemistry introduced the first Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Miqin Zhang, Kyocera Professor, Department of miqing Materials Science & Engineering, University of Washington who gave a lecture entitled, “Biodegradable Nanotheranostic Nanoparticles for Targeted Gene Therapy ”. In her presentation, Dr. Zhang described the development andassessment of a cancer-cell specific magnetic nanovector construct for efficient gene delivery and non-invasive monitoring through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). She also presented applications of the NP mediated siRNAs in combination with either radiation or chemotherapy for treating deadly gliomblastoma.

kohn Dr. Eszter Boros, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, introduced the second Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Joachim Kohn, Director, New Jersey Center for Biomaterials, Chair, International College of Fellows (ICF-BSE) who gave a lecture entitled, “Tyrosine-derived Nanoparticles (TyroSpheres) and their Medical Applications”. TyroSpheres are polymeric nanospheres based on derivatives of the naturally occurring amino acid L-tyrosine. TyroSpheres were first developed in 2004 by the Kohn group and are composed of an amphiphilic A-B-A triblock copolymer. Dr. Kohn discussed the main advantages of TyroSpheres are their low CMC, their extensive drug loading capability, and their ability to increase significantly the water solubility of hydrophobic drugs. tour

Dr. Stanislaus Wong, Professor, Department of Chemistry introduced the third Plenary Lecturer, Dr. James Tour, T. T. and W. F. Chao Professor, Department of Chemistry, Department of Computer Science and Department of Materials Science and Nano Engineering. Rice University, Smalley-Curl Institute and the Nano Carbon Center. Dr. Tour gave a lecture entitled, “Carbon Nanoparticles as Bridges for Electron Transfer in Mitochondria”. Dr. Tour talked about the efficacy of poly (ethylene glycol)-hydrophilic carbon clusters (PEG-HCCs) as broadly active and high capacity antioxidants in brain ischemia and injury models. PEG-HCCs area type of highly oxidized graphene-based carbon nanomaterial composed of a highly oxidized carbon core with peroxyl, quinone, ketone, carboxylate, and hydroxyl functional groups. He describes a new property of these materials: the ability to shuttle electrons between key surrogates and proteins of the mitochondrial electron transport chain. He explained how these new findings may also extend their potential use to mitochondrial disorders.

wenbin Dr. Elizabeth Boon Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, introduced the fourth Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Wenbin Lin, James Franck Professor, Department of Chemistry, the University of Chicago who gave a lecture entitled, “Nanoscale Metal-Organic Frameworks for Cancer Therapy”. He discussed about his recent efforts on designing nanoscale metal-organic frameworks (nMOFs) containing multiple therapeutics or treatment modalities for chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy of resistant cancers. mansoor

Dr. Ming-Yu Ngai Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, introduced the fifth Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Mansoor Amiji, Distinguished Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Northeastern University, School of Pharmacy. He gave a lecture entitled,“Integrated Nano-Medicine for Cancer and Inflammatory Diseases”. In his presentation he talked about new approaches for development of multifunctional engineered nano-systems for targeted therapies in the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases. He focused on challenging medical problems with innovative solutions that use safe materials and scalable fabrication methods in order to facilitate clinical translation and improve patient outcomes.

stan wong Dr. Jonathan Rudick Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, introduced the sixth Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Stanislaus Wong, Professor, Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University who gave a lecture entitled, “Functionalized Nanostructures in Biological and Biomedical Applications”. In his presentation, he focused on a number of recent collaborative efforts, involving the labs of individual ICB&DD members. He spoke about interactions between hematite (α-Fe₂O₃) Nanorhombohedra (N-Rhomb) and biological systems. In particular, microglia which represents the first line of defense in the central nervous system (CNS) during severe injury or disease such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s as illustrative examples. He presented preliminary results seeking to determine if microglia/macrophages will effectively carry functionalized nanoparticles to tumor regions. If successful, the nanoparticles could be used not only as compounds that can be used to treat cancer but also as non-invasive diagnostics, given the paramagnetic (MRI-appropriate) properties of nanoparticles.

Dr. Jarrod French, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry and Department of Biochemistry, introduced the seventh Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Henry Hess, Professor and Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Transactions henry on Nanobioscience, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University who gave a lecture entitled, “Engineering with Biomolecular Motors and Enzyme Cascades”. Dr. Hess most recent work created a molecular system that is capable of dynamically assembling and disassembling its building blocks while retaining its functionality, and demonstrates the possibility of self- healing and adaptation. In his presentation he discussed his perspective on the role of scaffolds in the organization of enzyme cascade reactions and his recent efforts to understand metabolon formation in cells. The correct application of biophysical principles provides important insights into the role of spatial organization for the complex biochemical reactions occurring in the cell as well as in biotechnological processes.

poster 18 poster 18 two

poster 18 three The best three of the 48 posters presented in the Poster Session were selected for the Poster Awards. The award winning posters this year were presented by Alyssa N. Preston, from the research group of Dr. Scott T. Laughlin for her poster entitled, “Chemical Approaches to Visualizing the Brain's Astrocytes”; Ilana Heckler . From the research group of Dr. Elizabeth Boon for her poster entitled, “Discovery of a Nitric Oxide Responsive Quorum SensingCircuit in Vibrio Cholera” and Shabnam Davoodi from the research group of Dr. Peter Tonge for her poster entitled, “The Impact of Tyr158 pKa on Proton Transferring Process in InhA Active Site”.

The 12^th ICB&DD Symposium culminated with a wonderful dinner at the Chapel of the Charles B. Wang Center. Among attendees were Dr. Lina Obeid, Distinguished Professor and Dean of Research, Yusuf Hannun, Director Stony Brook Cancer Center, Nancy Goroff, Chair of the Department of Chemistry, Kenneth Shroyer, Chair Department of Chemistry. They expressed their appreciation for the outstanding lectures presented at the symposium, as well as acknowledged the significance of the ICB&DD and the collaborative efforts among academia and industry. They also commended Dr. Ojima for his successful leadership for the ICB&DD operation and more than a decade-long cutting-edge Symposium.

The Symposium was co-sponsored by the Office of the Vice-President for Research, Stony Brook School of Medicine, Department of Chemistry, Chembio Diagnostics Systems Inc., Chem-Master International, Inc., Avanti Biosciences Inc., Targagenix Inc, and Hoffmann and Baron LLP.

Please link to photos below

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SCkFRv7vKpWDMaq17

table 18 one table 18 two

Congratulations to Professor Iwao Ojima, winner of the 2019 Ernest Guenther Award

Congratulations to Professor Iwao Ojima, winner of the 2019 Ernest Guenther Award in the Chemistry of Natural Products from the American Chemical Society. This is his 4th ACS National Award in 4 different fields of chemistry. The purpose of the Ernest Guenther Award is to recognize and encourage outstanding achievements in the analysis, structure elucidation, and chemical synthesis of natural products.

Professor. Ojima is recognized for the exploration of the full potential of taxane-class diterpenes at the interface of natural product chemistry, synthetic methodology, medicinal chemistry, chemical biology and medicine.

The Ernest Guenther Award is one of the oldest and most prestigious ACS National Awards (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Guenther_Award), which honored a number of giants and most respected organic chemists whom Professor Ojima has admired during his long career in research. He is thrilled to be added to this outstanding roster of organic and natural product chemists.

Professor Ojima will receive the Ernest Guenther Award at the Spring 2019 national meeting of the ACS.

For further information regarding his award please see the following link below:

https://news.stonybrook.edu/facultystaff/iwao-ojima-receives-ernest-guenther-award-in-chemistry/

ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Styliani-Anna (Stella) Tsirka, Professor, Department of Pharmacological Sciences and Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs as a new Member for ICB&DD.Dr. Tsirka obtained her Ph.D in Biochemistry, from Aristotle University of Thesssaloniki, Stella Greece. She performed her postdoctoral training at University of California San Francisco and SUNY Stony Brook, under the mentoring of Drs. Phillip Coffino and Sidney Strickland, respectively.

Dr. Tsirka's research program is focusing on the neuro-immune interactions: Cross-talk between the nervous and immune systems in health and disease: Traditionally the central nervous system (CNS) has been thought to be “immune privileged” and not interact with the immune system. Increasing evidence, however, suggests that many neurodegenerative diseases, as well as many acute injuries in the CNS, are characterized by the presence of inflammatory cells in the CNS. An initial response to neuronal injury is evidenced by the activation of CNS microglia. Microglia are antigen-presenting, immune-competent, macrophage-like cells that reside in the CNS and are able to modulate neuronal survival, or are hypothesized to affect neuronal structural changes occurring in response to neuronal activity. Dr. Tsirka's research interests concern the communication, signaling events and cell-cell interactions between neurons and microglia subsequent to normal or exaggerated stimulation of the CNS that lead to reorganization of neuronal connections in the brain or neuronal cell death.

For her credentials and research program, please see the following websites: https://www.pharm.stonybrook.edu/faculty/t/tsirka; https://medicine.stonybrookmedicine.edu/neurobiology/gradprogram/faculty/Tsirka

Her research program will be an excellent addition to the Cancer Research and Anti-inflammatory Research Programs of ICB&DD.

Congratulations to ICB&DD Member, Dr. Kenneth Shroyer, recipient of the 2018 Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) Translational Research Award.

Dr. Kenneth Shroyer, Professor and Chair of the Department of Pathology recently received notification that his team has received the 2018 PanCAN Translational Research Grant, which includes $500,000 in funding for their proposal, entitled: “Keratin 17 is a novel actionable target in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma” This proposal was developed to test the idea that they may be able to find new and more effective ways to treat pancreatic cancer by blocking the nuclear functions of keratin 17 (K17) at specific sites, using both novel and sophisticated genetic and chemical approaches. They proposed to explore this idea by engineering the expression of K17 and its nuclear domains in cancer cells derived from pancreas cancer patients, grown in culture and implanted into mouse models of pancreatic cancer. They further intend to determine whether targeting K17 could be exploited as a new treatment with fewer toxic side effects and furthermore, to find out if this approach could enhance the efficacy of current chemotherapeutic drugs that are already widely used to treat this most lethal disease. If they are successful, they will have uncovered the "Achilles heel" that underlies the most aggressive form of pancreatic cancer and identified new ways to tackle this disease and improve patient survival. The Co-Investigators for this proposal include first and foremost, the Co-leader, Dr. Luisa Escobar-Hoyos, as well as a pancreatic cancer surgical oncologist, Dr. Joseph Kim. Dr. Wei Gao will serve as Biostatistician for this work, Dr. Cindy Leiton (who played a major role in helping to write the proposal) will serve as the Postdoctoral Fellow and Chun-Hao Pan (MCB graduate student) will also be an important member of the team.

Purple The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) is a United States-based 501(c) charity that funds research, provides patient support, conducts community outreach, and advocates for increased federal research funding for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer. It was established in 1999 and has raised awareness for pancreatic cancer with the help of businesses and other groups. The network raises funds for pancreatic cancer research through its "Purple Stride" walkathons, which are organized by its affiliates in various local communities. The PanCAN Translational Research Award was established in 2014, and to date, 17 national grants have been conferred, including 4 in 2017. This program supports independent investigators conducting translational research that has as its endpoint, the development of a pancreatic cancer assessment, prevention or treatment modality.

Congratulations to ICB&DD Members, Iwao Ojima, Martin Kaczocha and Dale Deutsch for their new technology to treat pain recently licensed to Artelo Biosciences Inc.

(Press release from Stony Brook Happenings)

A new technology employing endocannabinoids for pain relief, developed by Stony Brook University researchers affiliated with the Institute of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery (ICB & DD), has been licensed to Artelo Biosciences, Inc. Endocannabinoids are natural marijuana-like substances in the body and have potential as the basis for new medicines. Artelo has an exclusive license with the Research Foundation for the State University of New York to the intellectual property portfolio of FABP inhibitors for the modulation of the endocannabinoid system for the treatment of pain, inflammation and cancer.

artelo Stony Brook researchers have developed new chemical compounds that are licensed to Artelo Biosciences as potential drugs to treat pain, inflammation and cancer. Assembled with some of the compounds are, from left: Iwao Ojima, Martin Kazocha, graduate students Su Yan and Matthew Elmes, and Dale Deutsch.

Fatty Acid Binding Proteins have been identified as intracellular transporters for the endocannabinoid anadamide (AEA), a neurotransmitter produced in the brain that binds to THC receptors. Animal studies have demonstrated that elevated levels of endocannabinoids can result in beneficial pharmacological effects on stress, pain and inflammation and also ameliorate the effects of drug withdrawal. By inhibiting FABP transporters, the level of AEA is raised. Potential drugs acting in this manner would create elevated levels of AEA. The mechanism of action of such drugs would be similar to that of current antidepressants, which inhibit the transport of serotonin.

During the first year of the agreement, Artelo will collaborate with the Stony Brook research team to identify a lead FABP compound for drug development and formulation. The company will then conduct drug efficacy tests in nonclinical animal models of the compound.

The multidisciplinary research team is led by Dale Deutsch, PhD, Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, and a member of the ICB & DD. The research has been supported by a $3.8 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, an arm of the National Institutes of Health.

“The unique aspect of this research is that our focus is to investigate ways to active natural ‘marijuana’ in our bodies, the endocannabinoids,” said Deutsch. “This system has advantages over the properties of actual marijuana since endocannabinoids are not connected with dependence, potentially leading to addiction, but does act effectively against pain.”

Their research started in 2009 with the identification of the FABPs as the transporters of the endocannabinoids. When these compounds bind to the FABP they resulted in higher levels of AEA specifically. By using computational biology for virtual screening and actual assays, the researchers discovered lead compounds that bind to the FABPs and were analgesics for various types of pain.

The AEA research led to three Stony Brook University patent-covering new chemical compounds (called Stony Brook FABP Inhibitors or SB-FIs), which Artelo will investigate during its drug development plan.

“This licensing agreement gives us access to a promising intellectual property portfolio that is squarely aligned with our strategic direction as a scientific team with a proven track record of success,” said Gregory Gorgas, Chief Executive Officer of Artelo. “Working together to evaluate and identify novel FABP inhibitors based upon existing scientific data for clinical development will be complimentary to our drug pipeline and create a new opportunity for Artelo.”

In order to design the novel FABP inhibitors, members of the FABP Stony Brook research group required expertise in many disciplines, such as biochemistry, chemistry, computational biology, computer science, X-ray crystallography and medicine. The team includes Deutsch; Distinguished Professor Iwao Ojima, also the Director of the ICB & DD; Martin Kaczocha of the Department of Anesthesiology; Robert Rizzo of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, and Huilin Li, formerly of the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology.

Please see link below for article featured in the Stony Brook Happenings

https://www.stonybrook.edu/happenings/facultystaff/new-drugs-using-the-bodys-natural-marijuana-could-help-treat-pain-cancer/?spotlight=3

E. Boros ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Eszter Boros, Assistant Professor of Department of Chemistry and Cell Biology, as a Project Member. Dr. Boros was trained as an inorganic chemist in the Chemistry PhD program at the University of British Columbia (2007-2011) under the mentorship of Professor Chris Orvig (Chemistry) and Prof. Michael Adam (Head of PET Chemistry at Tri-Meson Facility (TRIUMF, Canadian National Laboratory) worked both at the Chemistry Department and TRIUMF on projects encompassing the radiometals Tc-99m, Ga-67/68 and Cu-64, as well as non-radioactive metal ions such as Re and Co. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School / Massachusetts General Hospital (2011-2015) in Chemistry and Biomedical Imaging (MRI/PET). After completing her postdoctoral training, she successfully applied for an NIH K99/R00 pathway to independence award and was promoted to instructor at the junior faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital. She worked in this position for two years before joining the faculty in the Department of Chemistry at Stony Brook University in early 2017.

Dr. Boros' research program in "Medicinal Inorganic Chemistry" harnesses the rich structural diversity of metal complexes paired with their versatile luminescent and radioactive properties for the design of new metal-based molecular imaging probes and therapeutics for personalized medicine. She is currently developing probes for the following applications: (i) Imaging and treatment of bacterial infections with siderophores; (ii) Metal-based probes for the multimodal imaging of cancer; (iii) Immuno-PET probes for the imaging of pulmonary fibrosis.

For her background, current research laboratory and research program, please see her website at http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/chemistry/faculty/Boros.Eszter.html and https://www.boroslab.com/.

Her research program will be an excellent addition to the Infectious Diseases Research Program as well as Cancer Research Program of ICB&DD, and also will bring in new and useful expertise to ICB&DD in general.

karzai ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Wali Karzai, Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, as well as Center for Infectious Diseases, has joined ICB&DD as Member. Dr. Karzai research program includes: 1) Molecular mechanisms that govern translation quality control; 2) Molecular basis for nonstop mRNA decay; 3) The mechanisms by which RNases and small non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) regulate gene expression and RNA stability; 4) Biochemical mechanism of targeted proteolysis and the role of AAA+ proteases in bacterial pathogenesis; 5) Discovery of novel antibiotics and vaccines.

For his credentials and research program, please see the following websites: http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/biochem/research/_faculty/karzai/ and http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/cid/people/faculty.html.

2017 News

Congratulations to ICB&DD Member, Dr. Tadashi Honda for his research breakthrough on NASH (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis) published recently in the Journal of Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology (CMGH).

(Press release from University of Dundee)

ICB&DD Member and Research Professor of the Department of Chemistry, Dr. Tadashi Honda along with a team of scientists from University of Dundee and Saint Andrews University in the United Kingdom, recently published their research breakthrough on NASH (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis). NASH, a form of liver disease which threatens to become a modern epidemic due to its association with obesity and type 2 diabetes. Both major health issues for modern society may be stopped in its tracks thanks to this research breakthrough. They found that the liver disease known as NASH (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis) could not only be stopped but that the damage it causes, including cirrhosis of the liver, could be reversed. Lifestyle choices within industrialised societies that entail over-consumption of energy-dense food and physical inactivity have led to an explosion in the incidence of obesity and type-2 diabetes. Approximately 10-15 per cent of obese individuals with type-2 diabetes will develop the form of liver disease called NASH, which is characterised by the coexistence of fat deposits and inflammation within the liver. “This condition is particularly sinister because it is difficult to identify affected patients, and even when a correct diagnosis is made there are currently no satisfactory treatments for the disease,” said Professor John Hayes, Chair of Molecular Carcinogenesis in the School of Medicine at the University of Dundee. “Most alarmingly, NASH will progress into more serious irreversible forms of liver disease in a substantial number of patients that can only be remedied by liver transplantation. In particular, NASH can progress to liver cirrhosis, and this in turn can ultimately give rise to liver cancer. Given the large portion of the population that are obese (30% of adults), many health professionals regard type-2 diabetes and NASH as a modern epidemic which in the long term will create enormous societal and economic distress. Clearly, we urgently need treatments that can inhibit NASH and prevent it from developing into cirrhosis and cancer.”

honda photo press Professor Hayes and colleagues including Professor David Harrison at the University of St Andrews and Professor Tadashi Honda at Stony Brook University in the USA have now reported a breakthrough which could lead to just such treatments. They focused on the fact that NASH is associated with the accumulation within the liver of a group of highly damaging and oxidizing molecules called reactive oxygen species (ROS). They believed that the `master controller’ of cellular antioxidant systems, called Nrf2, might prevent NASH resulting from obesity, based on a hypothesis that antioxidants neutralise ROS. Professor Hayes explained, “We used an existing pre-clinical drug called TBE-31, that was invented and made by Professor Honda to activate Nrf2 in mice, anticipating that natural antioxidant defence systems within liver cells would be switched on and that this should supress ROS levels and prevent liver damage. “We found that treatment with TBE-31 not only decreased the severity of diabetes and improved insulin sensitivity but it also exerted a range of beneficial effects within the liver.”

The drug greatly diminished fat synthesis and fat accumulation, inflammation and oxidative damage within the liver. The researchers also found, to their surprise, that TBE-31 also markedly decreased scarring in the liver. “These results are particularly exciting because they show for the first time that a drug that activates Nrf2 and switches on antioxidant defence genes can reverse both NASH and cirrhosis,” said Professor Hayes. “The fact that Nrf2 activation targets both liver disease and diabetes is quite remarkable. Moreover, the fact Nrf2 activation confers multiple benefits makes the strategy clinically attractive and potentially very robust. "This study demonstrates that established NASH and fibrosis can be reversed using drugs that activate Nrf2 and provides the proof of concept for moving this research into patients. Importantly, there are already drugs that are known to be safe in humans that can activate Nrf2. We should now move forward into clinical trials of Nrf2 activators in patients with NASH.”

The results of the research are published in the journal Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology (CMGH). The research has been funded by the Medical Research Council, Stony Brook Foundation and Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Please see link below for article featured in the Stony Brook Newsroom

http://sb.cc.stonybrook.edu/news/general/2017-12-22-stony-brook-tadashi-honda.php

ICB&DD Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Krupanandan Haranahalli, won first place at the Stony Brook University Postdoc Spotlight

ICB&DD Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Krupanandan Haranahalli, working for Dr. Maurizio Del Poeta and Dr. Iwao Ojima won first place at the Stony Brook University Postdoc Spotlight for her presentation entitled: “Kryptonite for Cryptococcus neoformans” . The Spotlight talks are snapshots of research and discovery conducted by Stony Brook’s postdoctoral scholars. The talks are five minutes long and meant for specialists and non-specialists alike. Dr. Krupanandan Haranahalli received her Ph.D. in 2016, under the mentorship of Professor Iwao Ojima in the Department of Chemistry, for her studies on development of novel antimicrobial agents through inhibition of cytokinetic protein FtsZ in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and sphingolipid GlcCer in fungi.

The Spotlight Talks are sponsored by the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs. The event took place on November 16 this year. This is an annual event and awards are given to the best three presentations. (Amazon gift card of $100 for first place, $75 for second place and $50 for third place. To see Dr. Krupanandan Haranahalli video of her presentation, click the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ODO15Gufz8&feature=youtu.be

ICB&DD Eleventh Annual Symposium

scott freedman On Friday, October 6, 2017, the ICB&DD hosted its Eleventh Annual Symposium entitled, “Frontiers in Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery”at the Charles B. Wang Center, Stony Brook University. This year it was also held as the second joint-symposium with Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The Symposium featured eight Plenary Lecturers: Dr. Michael Airola, Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Dr. Jingfang Ju, Department of Pathology, Stony Brook School of Medicine, Dr. Dima Kozakov, Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics and Dr. Nicole Sampson, Professor, Department of Chemistry. These four speakers represented Stony Brook University. Dr. Ming-Ming Zhou, Professor and Chairman, Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Dr. Dean SOM Dusan Bogunovic, Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, Dr. Arvin Dar, Assistant Professor, Department of Oncological Sciences and Dr. Michael Lazarus, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacological Sciences. They represented Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai. The event was very well attended by a diversified audience composed of faculty, research staff and students on campus, as well as universities and industries in the Greater New York metropolitan area. The Poster Session equally attracted a large participation of students from Stony Brook University, the Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai School, Chembio Diagnostics Systems Inc., among others. There were 60 scientific posters presented at the Poster Session.

Dr. John Haley, Research Associate Professor of Pathology, Stony Brook University and Chair of the Symposium Organizing Committee, opened the Symposium and introduced Dr. Scott L. Friedman, Dean of Therapeutic Discovery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who gave the welcoming remarks and briefly described the background and importance of the SBU-ISMMS joint-symposiums. Then, Dr. Haley introduced Dr. Kenneth Kaushansky, Dean, Stony Brook University School of Medicine. Dr. Kaushansky congratulated the joint symposium, emphasized the importance of the collaboration between the two institutions, and then introduced  Dr. Iwao Ojima, Distinguished Professor and Director of ICB&DD. Dr. Ojima concisely summarized the history of accomplishments and the current and future goals of ICB&DD.

Ming Ming Zhou Dr. Steven Glynn, Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, introduced the First Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Ming-Ming Zhou, Dr. Harold and Golden Lamport Professor and Chairman, Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who gave a lecture entitled, “From Epigenetic Structural Mechanism to Targeted Therapy”. In his presentation, Dr. Zhou provided an overview of his investigative team’s latest structural and mechanistic study of protein-protein interactions involving master transcription factors and core histones that play an important role in epigenetic control of gene transcription, cell proliferation and lineage-specific differentiation. In addition, he discussed the functional implications of the new findings on the basic principles that govern the molecular interactions and regulation in gene expression and strategies for developing new targeted epigenetic therapy for human diseases, including cancer and inflammation.

Dr. John Haley, introduced the second Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Jingfang Ju, Professor, Department of Pathology, Stony Brook University School of Medicine, who gave a lecture entitled, “The Development of miRNA-Based Therapeutics for Colorectal Cancer”. In his presentation, Dr. Ju discussed his laboratory’s findings that the translational regulation of suspected genes in cancer has come to a new frontier in recent years. He stated that, “Mounting evidence showed that post-transcriptional and translational controls mediated by various regulatory molecules, such as RNA-binding proteins and non-coding RNAs (e.g. miRNAs), are critically important.” His team “uncovered a novel mechanism that a number of miRNAs were regulated by tumor suppressor p53 in colon cancer. Such a regulatory mechanism is important in regulating cell proliferation and cell cycle control.” He believes that, given the significant role of miRNAs in many aspects of tumor development such as proliferation, autophagy, cell cycle control, invasion, EMT and maintained tumor stem cell phenotype, he is hopeful that miRNA based therapeutics, diagnosis and prognosis may emerge in the near future to benefit patients.

Dusan Dr. Maurizio Del Poeta, Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology introduced the third Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Dusan Bogunovic, Assistant Professor, Department of Oncological Sciences and Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who gave a lecture entitled, “Broad Spectrum Antivirals: Human Genetics Leading Therapy”. In his presentation, Dr. Bugunovic discussed his group’s use of next-generation sequencing in the discovery of humans who have augmented protection against viral infections. He stated that, “These individuals have loss-of-function mutations in ISG15, a negative regulator of Type I interferon (IFN) pathway. Clinically, ISG15 deficient individuals are largely asymptomatic, but functionally have low-level, persistent transcription of IFN stimulated genes”. He reported that his research group has recently demonstrated that “this small amount of IFN stimulated gene transcripts confers increased protection against a broad spectrum of viruses”.

dar Dr. Martin Kaczocha, Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology , introduced the fourth Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Arvin Dar, Department of Oncological Sciences and Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who gave a lecture entitled, “A Whole Animal Platform to Advance a Clinical Kinase Inhibitor into New Disease Space”. In his presentation, Dr. Dar described his research and studies on signal transduction networks at multiple levels: structurally, biochemically, within cells, and also within whole animals. He stressed that a goal of his research program is “to build the tools that will allow us to modulate signaling networks within the context of cells and animals for therapeutic applications”. In his talk, Dr. Dar presented his recent work, employing methods from synthetic organic chemistry, X-ray crystallography, informatics, biochemistry and model organism genetics to develop novel kinase inhibitors.

Nicole Dr. Scott Laughlin, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, introduced the fifth Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Nicole Sampson, Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University, who gave a lecture entitled, “Cholesterol Metabolic Pathways in M. tuberculosis: Opportunities for Tuberculosis Drug Discovery and Diagnosis”. In her presentation, Dr. Sampson stated that, “Tuberculosis (TB) is the number one killer from infectious disease in the world. Current drug regiments are lengthy and toxic, and new approaches to TB treatment are needed.” She stressed that, “existing diagnostic tools fail to confirm TB in most children, who typically have disease with low bacterial counts”. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), is the causative agent of TB, and infects and divides inside human immune cells. The ability of Mtb to metabolize human cholesterol is critical for the maintenance of the Mtb infection in these cells. She stressed that, building on her laboratory’s biochemical basis on the cholesterol metabolism, her team has identified potential avenues for both diagnosing TB disease more readily, particularly in children and improving treatment of TB.

Dima Dr. Robert Rizzo, Professor, Department of Mathematics introduced the sixth Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Dima Kozakov, Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty Member, Laufer Center for Physical Quantitative Biology, Stony Brook University, who gave a lecture entitled, “Modeling and Modulation of Protein Interactions”. In his presentation, Dr. Kozakov focused on the understanding of the key principles of disrupting protein-protein interactions using small molecules, macrocycles or other compounds because modulating protein interactions for therapeutic purposes has become one of the modern frontiers of biomedical research. His group accomplished the disruption of the protein-protein interactions by introducing the concept of hot spots, which are regions of surface that disproportionally contribute to binding free energy. Hot spots were determined by modeling the interaction of proteins with a number of small molecules used as probes. This method is a direct computational analogue of experimental techniques, and uses the FFT-based sampling approach. Dr. Kozakov then demonstrated how these hot spots provided information on the ability of drug-like small molecules for binding to the site of protein-protein interactions, as well as allosteric sites.

Airola Dr. Jarrod French, Department of Biochemistry, introduced the seventh Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Michael Airola, Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Stony Brook University, who gave a lecture entitled, "Structure, Function, and Inhibition of Lipid Metabolism in Cancer". In his presentation, Dr. Airola explored his observation, “During the past thirty years, the perceived role of lipids has shifted from simple structural components of cell membranes to bioactive molecules that regulate critical cellular and pathological processes”. He stated that, “The enzymes that generate and breakdown these bioactive lipids have emerged as novel therapeutic targets for treating the leading causes of diseases in the United States, including cancer”. In his talk, Dr. Airola presented new insight into the way that two key enzymes in sphingolipid metabolism work at the molecular and structural level. These include the colon cancer therapeutic target, human neutral ceramidase, and the membrane-associated enzyme, neutral sphingomyelinase 2 which has established roles in neurodegeneration, metastasis, and intracellular communication.

Lazarus Dr. Adam Rosebrock, Assistant Professor, Department of Pahtology, introduced the eighth Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Michael Lazarus, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who gave a lecture entitled, “The Incredible ULKs: Structure and Inhibition of Autophagy Kinases”. In his presentation, Dr. Lazarus discussed his research team’s research on small molecule inhibitors against key enzymes of a family of kinases, called ULKs that initiate autophagy. He identified autophagy as a “fundamental cellular pathway conserved from yeast to humans” which is “necessary for development and normal cellular function”. “These enzymes diverged from the yeast kinase Atg1 and have more complex roles in mammalian cells in general and in cancer in particular.” His group “solved the first structure of ULK1 and is developing inhibitors to probe the therapeutic value of targeting autophagy alone or as a combination treatment for numerous malignancies”. Dr. Lazarus stressed that the strategy of targeting ULK1 and ULK2 could be beneficial for cancer treatment.

Dr. Elizabeth Boon, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry gave the closing remarks, thanking the Plenary Lecturers for their outstanding presentations as well as the Organizing Committee members for their successful planning and execution of the Eleventh Annual ICB&DD Symposium.

poster award winners The best three posters of the 60 scientific papers presented in the Poster Session were selected for the Poster Awards. Dr. Jarrod French, Chair of the Poster Session Committee presented the awards to the selected winners. The award winning posters this year were Krupa Haranahalli from the laboratory of Dr. Iwao Ojima for her poster entitled:“SAR Study on Novel Anti-Fungal Agents Targeting the Synthesis of Fungal Sphingolipids”, Pratik Kumar from the laboratory of Scott Laughlin, for his poster entitled: “3-N Spirocyclopropenes Provide Spatiotemporal Control of Bioorthogonal and Jennie B. Altman from the laboratory of Dr. Bogunovic, Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai for her poster entitled: “Broad Spectrum Antivirals - Human Genetics Leading Therapy Utilizing ISG15 Deficiency”.

poster all poster maurizio poster others

Roxanne and Ojima The 11^th ICB&DD Symposium culminated with a wonderful dinner at the Chapel of the Charles B. Wang Center. The invitees expressed their appreciation for the outstanding lectures presented at the symposium as well as acknowledged the significance of the ICB&DD and the collaborative efforts among academia and industry. They also commended Dr. Ojima for his successful leadership for the ICB&DD operation and holding decade-long cutting-edge Symposiums. Dr. Ojima extended special thanks to Ms. Roxanne Brockner, Assistant to the Director for her exceptional and dedicated efforts for the success of ICB&DD and its Symposiums since its inception in 2007, and presented her a glass plaque of deep appreciation.

The Symposium was co-sponsored by Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Stony Brook School of Medicine, Office of the Vice-President for Research, Department of Chemistry, Targagenix Inc, Chembio Diagnostics Systems Inc., Hoffmann & Baron LLP and Avanti Biosciences Inc.

table angelo table nicole sampson

Chembio Diagnostics Receives FDA Emergency Use Authorization for the First Rapid Zika IgM Test

MEDFORD, N.Y., Sept. 28, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Chembio Diagnostics, Inc. (Nasdaq:CEMI), a leader in point-of-care (POC) diagnostic tests for infectious diseases, today announced that it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for its DPP^® Zika System.

Zica The DPP^® Zika System, which provides results in 15-20 minutes from only 10µL of blood, is the first rapid Zika test to receive an FDA EUA for use in high and moderate complexity CLIA certified laboratories. The DPP^® Zika System includes the DPP^® Zika IgM Assay and DPP^® Micro Reader, which is portable, hand-held, easy to use, and can reduce the risk of human error during test interpretation.

The test is authorized for the presumptive detection of Zika virus IgM antibodies in fingerstick whole blood, EDTA venous whole blood, EDTA plasma (each collected alongside a patient-matched serum specimen) or serum (plain or separation gel) specimens collected from individuals meeting CDC Zika virus clinical and/or epidemiological criteria, from 8 days of on-set and up to 12 weeks.

The DPP^® Zika System has been authorized by FDA under an EUA for use in authorized laboratories in the United States that are certified under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment (CLIA), to perform high or moderate complexity tests, or by similarly qualified non-U.S. laboratories. The DPP^® Zika System utilizes the patented technology platform used in the Company's FDA approved and CLIA waived DPP^® HIV 1/2 Assay. The DPP^® Zika System has not been FDA cleared or approved and has been authorized only for the diagnosis of Zika virus infection and not for any other viruses or pathogens. The DPP^® Zika System is only authorized for the duration of the declaration that circumstances exist justifying the authorization of the emergency use of in vitro diagnostic tests for detection of Zika virus and/or diagnosis of Zika virus infection under section 564(b)(1) of the Act, 21 U.S.C. § 360bbb-3(b)(1), unless the authorization is terminated or revoked sooner.

Sharon Klugewicz, acting Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We are delighted to receive FDA Emergency Use Authorization for our DPP^® Zika System and we appreciate the close interaction with the FDA throughout the EUA process. We believe the deployment of a rapid test for the presumptive detection of human IgM antibodies to Zika virus will be a critical tool in dealing with the ongoing spread of Zika virus, and we plan to make the DPP^® Zika System immediately available in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands."

This project has been funded in part with federal funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). Chembio has been awarded a contract for $5.9 million to develop the product and obtain FDA EUA authorization and FDA 510(k) clearance with the potential of $13.2 million in total funding from BARDA if all options are exercised, to advance clinical development of its DPP^® Zika System and its DPP^® Zika / Dengue / Chikungunya System.

About Chembio Diagnostics

Chembio Diagnostics, Inc. develops, manufactures, licenses and markets rapid diagnostic tests in the growing $8.0 billion POC testing market. The Company markets its products directly and through third-party distributors under the brand names: DPP^®, STAT-PAK^®and SURE CHECK^®.

Chembio has developed and patented the DPP^® technology platform, which offers significant advantages over traditional POC lateral-flow technologies and provides the Company with a significant pipeline of business opportunities in the area of sexually transmitted disease, tropical and fever disease, and technology collaborations.

Headquartered in Medford, NY, Chembio is registered with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and is certified for the global market under the International Standards Organization (ISO) directive 13485. Each of Chembio Diagnostic Systems, Inc. and Chembio Diagnostics Malaysia Sdn. Bhd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chembio Diagnostics, Inc. For more information, please visit: www.chembio.com.

11^th Annual ICB&DD Symposium

Frontiers in Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery

We are pleased to announce the ICB&DD 11^th Annual Symposium, “ Frontiers in Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery”, which will be held at the Charles B. Wang Center on Friday, October 6 2017 (9:00AM–5:00PM; Reception 5:00–6:00PM). The ICB&DD Annual Symposium is thematically focused on cutting-edge advances in chemical biology, structural and computational biology, cancer and infectious diseases, and drug discovery. The Symposium invites renowned scholars in the field as well as highly recognized researchers on campus to present their exciting accomplishments and stimulate the exchange of innovative ideas among speakers, faculty, staff, and students on campus as well as researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, academia and industries in the greater NY metropolitan area.

The Plenary Lecturers this year are:

Dr. Michael Airola, Biochemistry, Stony Brook University

Dr. Dusan Bogunovic, Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Dr. Nicole Sampson, Chemistry, Stony Brook University

Dr. Arvin Dar, Oncological Sciences and Structural and Chemical Biology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Dr. Jingfang Ju, Pathology, Stony Brook University School of Medicine

Dr. Michael Lazarus, Pharmacological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Dr. Dima Kozakov, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Stony Brook University

Dr. Ming-Ming Zhou, Pharmacological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

We are looking forward to another stimulating and productive symposium!

stan ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Stanislaus Wong, Professor, Department of Chemistry, as a Member. Dr. Wong received his B.Sc., from McGill University (1994) and his A.M. from Harvard University (1996). He received his; Ph.D. from Harvard University (1999) and completed his postdoctoral training at Columbia University (1999-2000). He then joined the Department of Chemistry and has held a Joint appointment with the Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Sciences Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory since 2000 until present. He is also an affiliated member of the Biomedical Engineering and Biophysics programs at Stony Brook University. Dr. Wong is a highly established scholar in nano-science and technology. His research program has two primary focuses, i.e., (i) nanotube chemistry and (ii) nanostructure synthesis, which will broaden the potential impact and practical applicability of nanostructures. His innovative research on the creation of new nanotubes and nanostructures have relevance to chemical biology and biomedical engineering, especially for drug delivery and imaging. For his credentials and research program, please see the following websites: http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/wonggroup/ and

http:/www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/chemistry/faculty/wong.stanislaus.html

Dr. Wong's research program will be an excellent addition to the Cancer Research and Infectious Diseases Programs of ICB&DD through collaborations, and also will bring in new and useful expertise to ICB&DD in general.

dim ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Dmytro Kozakov, Assistant Professor of. Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics as a Project Member. Dr. Kozakov received his BS.(2000) And M.S.(2002) in Applied Mathematics and Physics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow, Russia. He received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University (2006) and completed his postdoctoral training in Computational Biophysics at Boston University (2008). He worked as Senior Research Associate, (2008) and as Research Assistant Professor (2008-2014) and as Research Associate Professor (2014-2015) at Boston University. He then joined the faculty of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics at Stony Brook University as Assistant Professor since 2015. Dr. Kozakov's research interests lie at the intersection of applied mathematics, physics and computational biology. His research program has two main goals: (i) the development of mathematically elegant, computationally efficient and physically accurate algorithms for modeling macromolecular structure and function on the genome scale, and (ii) the application of novel methods to improving the understanding of biological problems and to the design of therapeutic molecules with desired biological and biomedical properties. For his background, current research laboratory and research program ("Applied Biocomputation Group"), please see his website at https://abcgroup.cluspro.org/. His publications in Nature protocols and PNAS are impressive among his prolific publication record. He is an affiliated faculty member of Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology, as well as Institute for Advanced Computational Sciences. His research program will be an excellent addition to the Computational Biology Program of ICB&DD, and also will bring in new and useful expertise to ICB&DD in general.

ros ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Adam Rosebrock, Assistant Professor of Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, as a Project Member. Dr. Rosebrock received his Ph.D in Molecular Genetics from Stony Brook University, (2009) and completed his postdoctoral training at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (2011). He worked as Senior Research Associate, (2011-2014) and as Assistant Professor (2014-2016) at the University of Toronto, Canada. He then joined the faculty of the Department of Pathology at Stony Brook University School of Medicine as Assistant Professor since 2016. Dr. Rosebrock's research program focuses on the identification of biochemical pathways that respond to changes to internal and external cell state, and to understanding how these responses are enacted -- whether through transcriptional regulation, posttranslational modification, or direct regulation of enzymatic activity. His lab uses a combination of genetics, direct biochemical measurement, and extensive computational analysis to understand cellular biochemical state. Genetic tools are used to build model systems with altered pathways and enzyme function, and the group develops and uses a range of mass spectrometry assays to measure biochemical contents and reaction rates of the cell. His lab builds new algorithms to deal with the large amounts of data generated; the group is particularly interested in using “big data” approaches to uncover how distinct biochemical pathways are co-regulated, and to place newly discovered metabolites within greater biological context. Dr. Rosebrock’s research program will be an excellent addition to the Cancer and Infectious Diseases Research Program of ICB&DD. It will also bring in new and useful expertise to ICB&DD in general.

Congratulations to ICB&DD Project Member, Dr. Galina Botchkina for having her licensed PPT2 Prostate Cancer Stem Cell Line recently launched as a product catalog in Millipore.

cscl ICB&DD congratulates, Project Member, Dr. Galina Botchkina for having her licensed PPT2 Prostate Cancer Stem Cell Line recently launched as a product catalog (# SCC104) in Millipore.

PPT2 is a spontaneously immortalized prostate cancer cell line that expresses cancer stem cell markers including CD133, CD44, EpCAM and CD166. PPT2 cells possess high sphere-forming, clonogenic and tumorigenic capacities and are extremely resistant to anti-cancer drugs. The PPT2 line is negative for tumor suppressor genes p53 and p21 and do not express AR and PSA, and only a small fraction of the PPT2 cells express p63.

The PPT2 prostate adenocarcinoma cell line was established from a stage pT2c pNX pMX prostate cancer patient. Primary tumor cells were obtained by needle biopsy from the resected prostate carcinoma and established in culture on type-I collagen using serum free stem cell media. PPT2 cells were selected based upon their ability to form 3D spheroids over prolonged passages. Cells were serially transplanted in NOD/SCID mice tumor xenografts and propagated as a mixture of floating 3D spheroids and type I collagen adherent cells. PPT2 is a unique, cancer stem cell (CSC) enriched, human prostate cancer cell line useful for CSC-targeted drug development and research focused on cancer cell and CSC biology. For further details of this announcement please see link below

http://www.emdmillipore.com/US/en/product/PPT2-Human-Prostate-Cancer-Cell-Line,MM_NF-SCC104

ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Michael Frohman, Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmacological Sciences. We are very pleased that Dr. Frohman has joined ICB&DD as Member, as well as Steering Committee Member. Dr. Frohman received his M.D., Ph.D. from University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and performed Postdoctoral training at University of California at San Francisco. He is also the Director of the Medical Scientist Training Program at Stony Brook SOM. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Association of American Physicians (AAP). His research is currently focused on Lipid Signaling: Roles in mitochondrial biology, spermatogenesis, diabetes, immune function, the CNS, platelet activation, and cancer; - Imaging Pancreatic β-cells using metabolomics and MRI. Dr. Frohman's research program focuses on the exploration of translational roles for the mammalian family of lipid-signaling Phospholipase D genes. PLD superfamily members are involved in many physiological and pathophysiological settings including immune defenses, cancer, neurodegenerative disease, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and fertility. His research program will be an excellent addition to the Cancer Research Program of ICB&DD, and also to explore neurodegenerative, metabolic and cardiovascular diseases research at ICB&DD.

mar ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Michael Airola, Assistant Professor of the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology as a Project Member. Dr. Airola's research focuses on the structural biology of lipid modifying enzymes. These enzymes that generate and breakdown bioactive lipids have emerged as therapeutic targets for treating the leading causes of diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. Dr. Airola received his Ph.D. in Chemistry and Chemical Biology from Cornell University (2010) where he studied under guidance of Brian Crane. He performed postdoctoral training at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, 2010-2012 and at Stony Brook University School of Medicine under the guidance of Yusuf Hannun, 2012-2016. His postdoctoral work was focused on a family of bioactive lipids called sphingolipids to understand the molecular basis by which sphingolipids affect cellular processes and how sphingolipid metabolizing enzymes are activated and regulated. During his postdoc training, he was able to establish the prerequisite expression/purification system and crystallized neutral ceramidase to determine its first crystal structure. Dr. Airola will be an ideal member of ICB&DD to strengthening its Structural Biology and Cancer Research Programs, as well as exploring metabolic diseases research at ICB&DD.

tan ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Dongyan Tan, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacological Sciences, School of Medicine, as a Project Member. Dr. Tan received her Ph.D. in Physiology and Biophysics in 2009 from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and completed postdoctoral training in 2016 at Harvard Medical School. She joined the faculty of the Department of Pharmacological Sciences of Stony Brook University as Assistant Professor in 2016. Dr. Tan has a broad background in biochemistry, biophysics, and cell biology, with special training in electron microscopy (EM) and structural biology. She has extensive experience in structural studies of macromolecules complexes using different methods in EM, especially for protein complexes that have proven challenging for traditional structural methods. The overarching goal of her research is to understand how different epigenetic regulators control gene expression through modulating the structure dynamics and the functions of chromatin. Dt. Tan’s laboratory specializes in using EM and a wide array of biochemical and biophysical methods to investigate the structure-function relationships of macromolecular machines that play important roles in epigenetic gene regulation during normal development and in diseases. Dr. Tan’s extensive expertise in cryo-EM will lead the establishment of cryo-EM facility at SBU (CMM Bldg.). She will be an ideal member of ICB&DD, strengthening its Structural Biology Research Program.

2016 News

ICB&DD Tenth Annual Symposium

(from left to right) Drs. Robert Rizzo, Ken Dill, James Wells, Charles Brooks III, Da-Neng Wang, Wendy Cornell, Leemor Joshua-Tor, Clint Potter, Grant Jensen, Huilin Li, Steven Glynn and Iwao Ojima)

On Thursday, October 6, 2016, the ICB&DD hosted its Tenth Annual Symposium entitled, “Frontiers in Structural and Computational Biology” at the Charles B. Wang Center, Stony Brook University. ojima 16 The Symposium featured eight Plenary Lecturers. Lecturer, Dr. Ken A. Dill, represented the Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology of Stony Brook University. The event was very well attended by a diversified audience composed of faculty, research staff and students on campus, as well as universities and industries in the Greater New York metropolitan area. The Poster Session equally attracted a large participation of students from Stony Brook University, the Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, Chembio Diagnostics Systems Inc., among others. There were 65 scientific posters presented at the Poster Session. Dr. Huilin Li, Professor at the Van Andel Research Institute, former Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Stony Brook University and Chair of the Symposium Organizing Committee, opened the Symposium and introduced Dr. Richard Reeder, Vice President for Research at Stony Brook University, who gave the welcoming remarks for the Symposium. Then Dr. Lee introduced Dr. Iwao Ojima, Distinguished Professor and Director of ICB&DD. Dr. Ojima concisely summarized the history of accomplishments and the current and future goals of ICB&DD.

Ojima concisely summarized the history of accomplishments and the current and future goals of ICB&DD.

wendy Dr. Robert Rizzo, Professor, Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, introduced the first Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Wendy Cornell, Principal Research Staff Member, Soft Matter Science, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, who gave a lecture entitled, “Data Mining and Integration for Drug Discovery Pipeline Decision Support”. In her presentation, Dr. Cornell provided an overview of her research which focuses on the drug discovery process involving numerous stage gates where targets, compounds, clinical trials, and other key options are prioritized and Go/NoGo decisions are made. She described the generation and application of a variety of different decision support models and workflows based on protein structural, protein sequence, and pharmacological data as well as structured and unstructured textual sources and the resulting impact.

wang Dr. Peter Tonge, Professor, Department of Chemistry, introduced the second Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Da-Neng Wang, Professor, Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, NYU Medical School, who gave a lecture entitled, “Structure and Mechanism of a Bacterial Sodium-Dependent Dicarboxylate Transporter- Implications in Fatty Acid Synthesis and Obesity”. In his presentation, Dr. Wang discussed the factors, such as its direct import across the plasma membrane via the Na⁺- dependent citrate transporter (NaCT) which influence the concentration of cytosolic citrate, a major precursor for the synthesis of fatty acids, triacylglycerols, cholesterol and low density lipoprotein in liver and adipose cells. He stated that mutations of the homologous transporter gene in flies (INDY) result in reduced fat storage through calorie restriction. His research team has determined the 3.2 Å crystal structure an INDY homolog from Vibrio cholera. In conclusion, he indicated that homology modeling of the human NaCT protein has been used to understand its interaction with various small molecules.

ken Dr. David Green, Associate Professor, Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, introduced the third Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Ken A. Dill, Distinguished Professor and Director of the Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology, Member of the National Academy of Sciences, who gave a lecture entitled, “Melding Physical Simulations with Fuzzy Information for Computational Folding and Binding”. In his presentation, Dr. Dill discussed the computing of the folded or docked structures of proteins using physics-based molecular simulations. He stated that physical simulations have the advantage of capturing energies in addition to structural information, satisfying the Boltzmann distribution law, and giving dynamic and mechanistic information. He described the MELD method where he and his research team would speed up physical simulations by using fuzzy and uncertain external information and how MELD could help in experimental structure determination and finding native states of small proteins. He concluded by stating that he was optimistic that the MELD accelerator would add value to molecular dynamics modeling.

james Dr. Markus Seeliger, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacological Sciences, introduced the fourth Plenary Lecturer, Dr. James Wells, Chair, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, who gave a lecture entitled, “Challenging Targets for Drug Discovery: ‘The High Hanging Fruit’”. In his presentation, Dr. Wells described Tethering, a fragment-based discovery approach used to probe the surfaces of proteins that engage in protein-protein interactions or that may be regulated by allosteric interactions. He stated that for these sites, plasticity and conformational adaptability of proteins has begun to reveal new opportunities for drug discovery on targets previously assumed to be undruggable. Although protein-protein interfaces are generally flat and large, small fragment molecules can be found that bind with much greater ligand efficiency to “hot-spots” and in crevices that protein partners do not exploit. In addition, the site-directed nature of Tethering makes it very useful for exploring allosteric sites that may not be found by typical screening approaches. These technologies and the intrinsic adaptability and flexibility of proteins dramatically expand the opportunities for drug discovery at protein-protein interfaces and allosteric sites.

grant Dr. Huilin Li, Professor at the Van Andel Research Institute and former Professor of Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Stony Brook University, introduced the fifth Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Grant Jensen, Principal Investigator, HHMI and California Institute of Technology, Department of Biology, Broad Center for the Biological Sciences, who gave a presentation entitled, “Structural Biology in vivo Through Electron Cryotomography”. In his presentation, Dr. Jensen stated that in the last ten years, electron cryotomography has made it possible to visualize large macromolecular assemblies inside intact cells in a near-native, "frozen-hydrated" state in 3-D to a few nanometers resolution and that atomic models of individual proteins and smaller complexes obtained by X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, or other methods can be fit into cryotomograms to reveal how the various pieces work together inside cells. He stressed that a few good pictures are sometimes all that is needed to distinguish between competing models. Dr. Jensen then summarized the key technological advances that have made electron cryotomography possible and then presented several examples of current results from his research group’s recent work in bacterial cell biology, including new images and mechanistic insights into bacterial chemoreceptor arrays, secretion systems, and the Type IV pilus to illustrate these points.

clint Dr. Liang Gao, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, introduced the sixth Plenary Lecturer,Dr. Clint Potter, Co-Director, Electron Microscopy, New York Structural Biology Center, who gave a lecture entitled, “New Challenges for Molecular Electron Microscopy”. In his presentation, Dr. Potter focused on the dramatic improvements in the progress of Molecular Electron Microscopy (EM), and a set of techniques and approaches used to analyze the structure of macromolecular machines using a transmission electron microscope (TEM). He stated that new detectors and image processing software have enabled the reconstruction of atomic resolution maps for large well-ordered macromolecules and that high levels of automation in image acquisition and processing have enabled the reconstruction of multiple different states of molecular machines from a single sample. Dr. Potter then provided an overview of the new technology being used to understand structures that may be highly heterogeneous and/or dynamic and illustrated how the power of this method can be applied in the understanding of molecular machines.

leemor Dr. Miguel Garcia-Diaz, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacological Sciences, introduced the seventh Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Leemor Joshua-Tor, Professor and Dean of Watson School of Biological Sciences, HHMI Investigator, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and HHMI, who gave a presentation entitled, “Mad About U: Regulating the Let7 Pre-miRNA”. In her presentation, Dr. Tor explored the key mechanistic features of the steps in the regulation of the let-7 family of regulatory miRNA. She stated that Lin28 is the pluripotency factor that inhibits the biogenesis of the let-7 family. Lin28 is highly expressed in embryonic stem cells and has a fundamental role in development and tissue regeneration. It is an oncogene in a subset of human cancers, while let-7 is a tumor suppressor, that silences several human oncogenes. She described the process by which Lin28 triggers the suppression of mature let-7 expression in stem cells and certain cancer cells.

charles Dr. Carlos Simmerling, Professor, Department of Chemistry, introduced the eighth Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Charles L. Brooks III, Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis Professor of Chemistry and Biophysics, Department of Chemistry and Biophysics, University of Michigan, who gave a presentation entitled, “High-Throughput, Free Energy Based Ligand Discovery and Optimization Using Multi-Site λ-Dynamics”. In his presentation, Dr. Brooks discussed his research group’s development of an extended Lagrangian approach to free energy simulations called λ-dynamics and a multi-site version, which he termed multi-site λ-dynamics. He stressed that this system of interest “’evolves’ dynamically in the space of chemical substituents of interest and thus significantly enhances the efficiency of the search problem and convergence of the overall free energy calculations”. Dr. Books then described the extended Lagrangian methodology and illustrated it in the context of large- scale ligand screening calculations and then concluded his presentation by discussing generalizations to permit both sequence-based resistant mutations and ligand affinities.

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Dr. Robert Rizzo gave the closing remarks, thanking the Plenary Lecturers for their outstanding presentations as well as the Organizing Committee members for their successful planning and execution of the Tenth Annual ICB&DD Symposium.

poster winners 16 The best three of the 65 posters presented in the Poster Session were selected for the Poster Awards. The award winning posters this year were presented by Amber Bondsfrom the research group of Dr. Nicole Sampson for her poster entitled, “Elucidating the Mechanisms of Cholesterol Metabolism in Mycobacterium Tuberculosis”; T. Dwight McGee Jr. from the research group of Dr. Robert Rizzo for his poster entitled, “Exploiting Targetable Events in HIV Entry with Small-Molecule Inhibitors” and Xin Wang from the research group of Dr. Iwao Ojima for her poster entitled, “SB-T-1214 and Biotin Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles”.

The 10^th ICB&DD Symposium culminated with a wonderful dinner at the Chapel of the Charles B. Wang Center. Among the attendees were Kenneth Shroyer, Chair of the Department of Pathology and Maria Ryan, Chair of the Department of Oral Biology and Pathology. They expressed their appreciation for the outstanding lectures presented at the symposium as well as acknowledged the significance of the ICB&DD and the collaborative efforts among academia and industry. They also commended Dr. Ojima for his successful leadership for the ICB&DD operation and holding decade-long cutting-edge Symposiums. Dr. Ojima extended special thanks to Ms. Roxanne Brockner, Assistant to the Director for her exceptional and dedicated efforts for the success of ICB&DD and its Symposiums.

The Symposium was co-sponsored by the Office of the Vice-President for Research, Stony Brook School of Medicine, Department of Chemistry, TargaGenix Inc., Chembio Diagnostics Systems Inc., Chem-Master International, Inc. and Hoffmann and Baron LLP.

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Congratulations to Drs. Francis Johnson and Maria Ryan, Co-Investigators of a newly funded grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) to advance treatment of Periodontal Disease.

golub and francis In a pioneering partnership that could lead to new treatments for periodontal disease, Stony Brook University’s School of Dental Medicine and Traverse Biosciences have received a $1.3 million award from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The funding is intended to further evaluate the pre-clinical safety and effectiveness of the Traverse’s leading drug candidate, TRB-N0224, for the treatment of periodontal disease. The research will be led by Lorne Golub, DMD, in the Department of Oral Biology and Pathology, and Ying Gu, PhD, DDS, in the Department of General Dentistry at the School of Dental Medicine. They will serve as co-principle investigators of the award, in close collaboration with Traverse Biosciences.

Periodontal disease is one of the most prevalent diseases in the world, includes the major conditions of gingivitis and periodontitis, and is the primary cause of tooth loss in adults. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that the prevalence of periodontitis in U.S. adults aged 30 years and older is 47.2% (64.7 million people). Periodontal disease has also been associated with other chronic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and various cancers. Periodontal disease also impacts companion animals, including dogs, cats and horses. Canine periodontal disease affects approximately 80% of dogs by the age of three, with the highest incidence in smaller breeds and older animals.

In 2015, Traverse Biosciences signed an exclusive, worldwide license agreement with the Research Foundation for the State University of New York to develop a drug to treat canine periodontal disease. The leading drug candidate that has emerged and will be evaluated under the this NIDCR grant is derived from laboratory discoveries by Dr. Golub and Dr. Francis Johnson, President of Chem-Master International Inc., and Professor of Chemistry and Pharmacological Sciences at Stony brook University. They developed a library of drug candidates that are chemically-modified curcumins, which are designed to treat inflammation. The patents for the novel compounds list Drs. Golub and Johnson as the inventors. Traverse Biosciences will evaluate TRB-N0224 for the treatment of periodontal disease in both humans and animals.

“I am very pleased that Traverse Biosciences has been able to attract the financial resources necessary to advance this highly collaborative research and development program,” said Dr. Golub, SUNY Distinguished Professor and also a Scientific Co-Founder of Traverse Biosciences. “With this critical support from NIDCR, we can accelerate the commercialization of this platform technology for the treatment of periodontal disease, as well as a variety of other chronic inflammatory conditions.”

Joseph Scaduto, MS, MBA, Founder and CEO of Traverse Biosciences, stated, “We are working to successfully commercialize TRB-N0224 as an FDA-approved pharmaceutical intervention for the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases in both humans and companion animals, including periodontal disease.” He added, “This award from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research provides an infusion of non-dilutive capital that will allow us to demonstrate the pre-clinical safety and efficacy of this lead drug candidate.”

Dr. Gu, Associate Professor of Dentistry, commented, “I look forward to evaluating the therapeutic efficacy of TRB-N0224 to treat periodontal disease, and I am very pleased to work with Traverse Biosciences on this project. I strongly believe there is a need to develop new and improved therapeutics to manage chronic inflammatory diseases such as periodontitis. With this grant, we, as a team with Dr. Hsi-Ming Lee, a Research Assistant Professor in Oral Biology and Pathology, will be able to advance our research from bench top to chair side, from idea to commercialization.” She added, “It is exciting to work closely with a new venture to develop a promising biomedical technology invented here at Stony Brook University”

Dr. Maria Ryan, a Co-Investigator on the award and Chair of the Department of Oral Biology and Pathology said, “The Department of Oral Biology and Pathology has been a prolific source of innovation throughout its history with numerous products successfully developed and commercialized. I am so proud to see this legacy continue with the invention of TRB-N0224 and our fruitful partnership with Traverse Biosciences.”

The NIDCR award is defined as a Phase II Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant. Some of the STTR funding goes directly to the laboratory of Drs. Golub and Gu, and the work they and colleagues are doing evaluating the compounds in the School of Dental Medicine. The other portion of the funding goes to Traverse Bioscience for drug development and commercialization.

From Stony Brook Happenings. See article

http://www.stonybrook.edu/happenings/research/school-of-dental-medicine-and-traverse-biosciences-to-advance-treatment-for-periodontal-disease/?spotlight=3

We are pleased to announce the ICB&DD 10^th Annual Symposium, “ Frontiers in Structural and Computational Biology”, which will be held at the Charles B. Wang Center on Thursday, October 6 2016 (9:00AM–5PM; Reception 5:00–6:00PM). The ICB&DD Annual Symposium is thematically focused on cutting-edge advances in chemical biology, structural and computational biology, cancer and infectious diseases, and drug discovery. The Symposium invites renowned scholars in the field as well as highly recognized researchers on campus to present their exciting accomplishments and stimulate exchange of innovative ideas among speakers, faculty, staff, and students on campus as well as researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, academia and industries in the greater NY metropolitan area.

The Plenary Lecturers this year are:

Dr. Grant Jensen, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, California Institute of Technology

Dr. Clint Potter, Simons Electron Microscopy Center, New York

Dr. Neng Wang, Skirball Institute, New York University Medical School

Dr. Leemor Joshua-Tor, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Dr. Kenneth Dill, Laufer Center, Stony Brook University

Dr. Charles L. Brooks III, University of Michigan,

Dr. James Wells, University of California, San Francisco

Dr. Wendy Cornell, IBM

There will be Poster sessions on recently completed and ongoing projects conducted in the ICB&DD member's laboratories as well as relevant research laboratories in the area.

We are looking forward to another stimulating and productive symposium!

2015 News

Congratulations to Dr. Maria Ryan, New Vice President of the American Association for Dental Research

ICB&DD congratulates Dr. Dr. Maria Ryan for being elected the new Vice President of the American Association for Dental Research. Members of the American Association for Dental Research (AADR) have elected Dr. Maria Emanuel Ryan, professor and chair of the Department of Oral Biology and Pathology in the School of Dental Medicine at Stony Brook University, to serve as the next AADR vice president. Her term will begin at the conclusion of the 45th AADR Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, California, March 16-19, 2016. After serving as vice president, she will remain on the AADR Board of Directors for three consecutive terms as president-elect, president and immediate past president. AADR is the largest division of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR).

Dr. Ryan, who is a distinguished Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine alumna and a past president of the Stony Brook University Alumni Association, has served on the Board of Directors of the Task Force on Design and Analysis of Oral Health Research since 2003 and is a newly elected member of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Association Board. She received an AB from Barnard College, Columbia University; a DDS from the School of Dental Medicine, Stony Brook University; a certificate in periodontology from the School of Dental Medicine, University of Connecticut Health Center; and a PhD in Oral Biology and Pathology, Stony Brook University. She was a fellow of the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Program for Women at Drexel University College of Medicine, and the Energeia Partnership, Academy of Regional Stewardship at Molloy College.

Ryan stated that she was honored to be elected the AADR vice president and that it will be a privilege to serve the AADR membership and contribute to the continued growth of the organization. “This is a proud and exciting time for the AADR as it is for the Department of Oral Biology and Pathology, known for its’ translational research,” she said. “I look forward to working together with my colleagues here at Stony Brook and throughout the nation to achieve high standards of excellence in oral health research, promoting the mission and advancing the vision of the AADR.”

“The School of Dental Medicine faculty, students and staff are quite honored and pleased that Dr. Ryan has been recognized for her achievements,” said Dr. Mary R Truhlar, dean of the School of Dental Medicine at Stony Brook University. “We wish her much success in this prestigious position.”

Ryan has been an AADR member since 1991. She has been an invited speaker and co-chaired numerous scientific sessions at IADR/AADR meetings. As an active member and volunteer, she has reviewed applications for the AADR Neal W. Chilton Fellowship in Clinical Research since the inception of the award. She served as president of the AADR New York/Long Island Section from 2000 to 2007 and on the AADR Council from 2001 to 2006. Additionally, she has been a reviewer for the IADR/AADR Journal of Dental Research. As vice president, Ryan will work to support the AADR mission and the vision of the Board of Directors.

Maria Ryan and her husband, Charles Ryan, a distinguished Stony Brook University alum, established the Ryan Endowed Scholarship for Future Academicians at the School of Dental Medicine in 2012. This is the second endowed scholarship the couple has created at Stony Brook. In 2002 the Ryan’s established the Charles and Maria Ryan Scholarship in Oral Biology and Pathology. (copied from the SBU news)

http://sb.cc.stonybrook.edu/happenings/facultystaff/dr-maria-ryan-elected-vice-president-of-american-association-for-dental-research/?=marquee4

Congratulations to Dr. James Bliska, New Director of the Center for Infectious Diseases james

ICB&DD congratulates Dr James Bliska for being elected unanimously by his colleagues to be the Director of the Center for Infectious Diseases. In this position, Jim will lead the Center into new and joint areas of research on infection involving several of its own investigators as well as other investigators from across the campus. The Center Director, along with the Department of Environmental Health and Safety, is responsible for the operations of the Biosafety Level III Laboratory that is used by scientists from several university departments. It was obvious to all of us who elected him that he was the logical person to head the Center. Jim received his BS in Bacteriology from UW Madison (1983), a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of California at Berkeley (1988), and was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford (1988-1993). He became an Assistant Professor in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Stony Brook in 1993, and was promoted to Professor in 2003. His laboratory carries out basic research on mechanisms of bacterial pathogenesis and host protection. He has recently expanded his talents into global health, especially in the area of functional evolutionary genomics of host-pathogen interactions, as they have developed in underdeveloped areas of the world. During his research career Jim has generated over 134 publications and has been continually funded by grants from the NIH, Department of Defense, PIVOT and other sources. Since 2003 Jim has been Director of an NIH T32 training grant for PhD students entitled "Molecular and Cell Biology of Infectious Diseases". He has mentored 10 PhD students, 7 postdoctoral fellows, numerous undergraduates, and is actively involved in teaching graduate level courses in microbiology, molecular biology, genetics, cell biology, chemical biology and microscopy. Jim's awards include PEW Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences (1994), Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology (2012), Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2013), and Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Mentoring (2015). At the university level, Jim has served on the Institutional Biosafety Committee since 1995, including as Chair since 2006, and as a member of the Steering Committee for the Institute of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery (2005-2015). Among his contributions to the broader scientific community, Jim served as Editor for Infection and Immunity (2003-2013), and since 2013 has been an Editor for PLoS Pathogens, a new premier journal for Microbiology. He is also serving (2013-2017) as a Standing Member of the NIH Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Research Committee study section.

Congratulations to Dr. James Bliska on his election to the position of Director of the Center for Infectious Diseases.

Dr. Huilin Li partners with BNL in Groundbreaking DNA Research

In a partnership with Stony Brook researchers, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have released the first-ever images of the protein complex that unwinds, splits, and copies double-stranded DNA. The electron microscope images offer new insight into how this molecular machinery functions, including new possibilities about its role in DNA “quality control” and cell differentiation. The images and implications are described in a paper published online by the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, November 2, 2015. Rockefeller University scientists also worked in partnership with the project.

“This work is a continuation of our long-standing research using electron microscopy to understand the mechanism of DNA replication, an essential function for every living cell,” said Huilin Li, a biologist with a joint appointment at Brookhaven Lab and Stony Brook University. These new images show the fully assembled and fully activated ‘helicase’ protein complex-which encircles and separates the two strands of the DNA double helix as it passes through a central pore in the structure-and how the helicase coordinates with the two ‘polymerase’ enzymes that duplicate each strand to copy the genome.” Studying this molecular machinery, known collectively as a “replisome,” and the details of its DNA-copying process can help scientists understand what happens when DNA is miscopied-a major source of mutation that can lead to cancer-or learn more about how a single cell can eventually develop into the many cell types that make up a multicellular organism. But no one has produced a real structure of a replisome at any resolution for any organism until now. “All the textbook drawings and descriptions of how a replisome should look and work are based on biochemical and genetic studies,” Li said, likening the situation to the famous parable of the three blind men trying to describe an elephant, each looking at only one part. Those textbook drawings show the helicase moving along the DNA, separating the two strands of the double helix, with two polymerases located at the back where the DNA strand is split. In this configuration, the polymerases would add nucleotides (molecules containing the complementary A, T, G, and C bases of the genetic code) to the side-by-side split ends as they move out of the helicase to form two new complete double helix DNA strands.

To test these assumptions, Li’s group turned to the technique they had previously used to study individual components of the helicase, electron microscopy (EM). Jingchuan Sun, an EM expert in Li’s lab, was essential to the success of the work. He studied samples of replisomes from baker’s yeast cells-a model for all nucleus-containing cells-prepared and provided by Roxana Georgescu in Michael O’Donnell’s research group at Rockefeller University. O’Donnell’s group had previously published biochemical results related to this work. “DNA replication is one of the most fundamental processes of life, so it is every biochemist’s dream to see what a replisome looks like,” Sun said. “Our lab has expertise and a decade of experience using electron microscopy to study DNA replication, which has prepared us well to tackle the highly mobile therefore very challenging replisome structure. Working together with the O’Donnell lab, which has done beautiful functional studies on the yeast replisome, our two groups brought perfectly complementary expertise to this project,” he said. The team’s first-ever images of an intact replisome revealed that only one of the polymerases is located at the back of the helicase. The other is on the front side of the helicase, where the helicase first encounters the double-stranded helix. This means that while one of the two split DNA strands is acted on by the polymerase at the back end, the other has to thread itself back through or around the helicase to reach the front-side polymerase before having its new complementary strand assembled. The scientists were so surprised by this finding that they asked another group at Rockefeller, led by Brian Chait, to perform additional structural studies using mass spectrometry. Yi Shi, a postdoctoral fellow in Chait’s group performed this work, which confirmed the electron-microscopy-based conclusion about the unexpected architecture of the replisome.

The counterintuitive position of one polymerase at the front of the helicase suggests that it may have an unforeseen function. The authors suggest several possibilities including keeping the two “daughter” strands separate to help organize them during replication and cell division. It might also be possible that, as the single strand moves over other portions of the structure, some “surveillance” protein components check for lesions or mistakes in the nucleotide sequence before it gets copied-a sort of molecular quality control.

This architecture could also potentially play an important role in developmental biology by providing a pathway for treating the two daughter strands differently. Many modifications to DNA, including how it is packaged with other proteins, control which of the many genes in the sequence are eventually expressed in cells. An asymmetric replisome may result in asymmetric treatment of the two daughter strands during cell division-an essential step for making different tissues within a multicellular organism.

As the paper concludes, “Clearly, further studies will be required to understand the functional implications of the unexpected replisome architecture reported here.”

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE’s Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by the Research Foundation for the State University of New York on behalf of Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit applied science and technology organization. (copied from the SBU news)

http://sb.cc.stonybrook.edu/happenings/facultystaff/stony-brooks-huilin-li-partners-with-bnl-in-groundbreaking-dna-research/

ICB&DD Ninth Annual Symposium

ken On Thursday, October 8, 2015, ICB&DD hosted its Ninth Annual Symposium entitled, “Molecular Targets, Chemoprevention, and Cancer Therapeutics” at the Charles B. Wang Center, Stony Brook University. The Symposium featured seven Plenary Lecturers. The event was well attended by a diversified audience composed of faculty, research staff and students on campus and Brookhaven National Laboratory, as well as universities and industries in the Greater New York metropolitan area. The Poster Session equally attracted a large participation of students from Stony Brook University, Stony Brook Cancer Center and Brookhaven National Laboratory among others. lina There were 59 scientific papers presented at the Poster Session. Dr. Kenneth Shroyer (Chair, Department of Pathology, Stony Brook School of Medicine), Chair of the Symposium Organizing Committee, opened the Symposium, and introduced Dr. Lina Obeid, Professor of Medicine and Vice-Dean for Scientific Affairs of Stony Brook School of Medicine, who gave the welcoming remarks for the Symposium. Then, Dr. Shroyer introduced Dr. Iwao Ojima, Distinguished Professor and Director of ICB&DD. Dr. Ojima concisely summarized the history of accomplishments and the current and future goals of ICB&DD. ojima

Dr. John Haley, Associate Professor of Research, Department of Pathology, Stony Brook School of Medicine introduced the first Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Kowk-Kin Wong, Professor at Harvard Medical School, Dana-Faber Cancer Institute. Dr. Wong gave a lecture entitled, “Understanding Sensitivity and Resistance to Targeted Therapeutics and Immunotherapeutics Using Mouse Models of Lung Cancer”. In his presentation, Dr. Wong provided an overview wong of his research which focuses on understanding the pathogenesis and genetic alterations involved in lung tumorigenesis, as well as testing novel targeted cancer therapeutics in vivo in lung cancers. Dr. Wong proposed that the data generated from the “mouse clinical trials” that his research laboratory performed would provide the preclinical rationale for moving the therapeutic agents that his group used into human clinical trials. Dr. Geoffrey Girnun, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, Stony Brook School of Medicine introduced the second Plenary Lecurer, wang Dr. Shaomeng Wang, Professor Internal Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Michigan Medical School. Dr. Wang gave a lecture entitled, “Building a Successful Drug Discovery Program in Academia”. In his presentation, Dr. Wang discussed the difficulty encountered in moving a drug discovery research project from the laboratory to its clinical development. His lecture provided an overview of his team’s efforts and collaborations with academic researchers and biotech and pharmaceutical partners to advance compounds into clinical development and its research aimed at the “discovery and identification of optimal compounds for clinical development”. Dr. Orlando Schärer, Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Stony Brook University introduced the third Plenary Lecturer, rokita Dr. Steven E. Rokita, Professor, Department Bioorganic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Johns Hopkins University who gave a lecture entitled, “Dynamic Alkylation and its Consequences for DNA”. In his presentation, Dr. Rokita described prior research on the mutagenic and therapeutic potential of DNA alkylation that focused almost exclusively on irreversible reactions in contrast to reversibly reacting intermediates that can continually maintain a distribution of products regulated by thermodynamics rather than kinetics. He stated that the ultimate goal of his research group is to develop covalent, but dynamic cross-linking agents that can run the DNA repair process sufficiently to enhance the potency of chemotherapy.

Aga Dr. Kenneth Shroyer, introduced the fourth Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Rajesh Agarwal, Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Colorado Cancer Center. Dr. Agarwal gave a lecture entitled, “Colon Cancer Chemoprevention in New Era: Targeting the Initiators and the Initiated Ones, a Cancer Stem Cell Perspective”. In his presentation, Dr. Argarwal described the studies performed by his research group on whether sibilium, a non-toxic chemopreventive agent against Colorectal Cancer (CRC) has the potential to target colon CRC and associated inflammatory niche. He indicated that its studies “showed that sibilium strongly decreases the percentage of colonosphere formation (a stem cell characteristic) of CRC. Dr. thom Kenneth Shroyer introduced the fifth Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Patricia Thompson Carino, Professor, Department of Pathology, Stony Brook School of Medicine. Dr. Thompson-Carino gave a lecture entitled, “MicroRNAs, Colorectal Adenomatous Polyps and Cancer Risk”. In her presentation, Dr. Thompson-Carino focused on the deregulation of microRNAs in colorectal tumorigenesis across the adenoma to carcinoma continuum placing emphasis on the functional consequences at transition states between benign polyps and polyps that have a high risk of converting to colorectal cancer. In addition, she described recent results demonstrating microRNA patterns that accurately distinguish adenomatous polyps with a high propensity to convert to cancer from those with low malignant potential.

Dr. Isaac Carrico, Associate Professor, Chemistry Department, Stony Brook University chari introduced the sixth Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Ravi Chari, Executive Director, Chemistry & Biochemistry, ImmunoGen, Inc. Dr. Chari gave a presentation entitled, “Antibody-Drug Conjugates: From Concept to Clinical Validation”. In his presentation, Dr. Chari described his group’s research that is devoted to a semisynthetic approach to develop a panel of “linkable” analogs of matansine, a potent tubulin interacting plant natural product as well as potent DNA alkylators (IGNs) for use in Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs). He indicated that multiple ADCs using maytansinoids are currently in clinical evaluation and that the clinical data that is emerging from this study is promising. Dr. Chari stated that, the recent approval by the FDA of the maytansinoid conjugate ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DMI) for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer validates the potential of this technology”. Dr. John Haley introduced the seventh Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Geoffrey Girnun. Dr. Girnun gave a presentation entitled, “Targeting Oncogenic Signaling in Cancer via Regulation of Metabolic Flux”. In his presentation, Dr. Girnun discussed the emerging studies that highlight the role of the TCA cycle in the regulation of cancer cell proliferation and previous studies of the role of Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) in glucogenesis and as a key regulator of TCA cycle flux. He described that his research team discovered that PEPCK has a role in promoting cancer cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo and also one in linking metabolic flux and anabolic pathways to cancer cell growth. Dr. Girnun concluded his lecture by stating that his research group is currently working on the study of inhibitors of PEPCK as therapeutic agents of cancer.

Dr. Shroyer gave the closing remarks, thanking the Plenary Lecturers for their outstanding presentations as well as the Organizing Committee members for its successful planning and execution of the Ninth Annual ICB&DD Symposium.

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The best three posters of the 66 scientific papers presented in the Poster Session were selected for the Poster Awards. The award winning posters this year were Siyeon Lee from the laboratory of Dr. Iwao Ojima for her poster entitled, “Boc-Lys (AC)-GABA-taxoids as Novel Tumor Targeted Anticancer Agents”, Jingming Wang from the laboratory of Dr. Hyungjin Kim for her poster entitled, “Regulation of DNA Repair by the SCF Ubiquitin E3 Ligase Complex” and Lisa-Marie Nisbett from the laboratory of Dr. Elizabeth Boon for her poster entitled, “Characterization of a NosP Signal Transduction Pathway in Shewanellaoneidensis”.

The 9^th ICB&DD Symposium culminated with a wonderful dinner at the Chapel of the Charles B. Wang Center. Among the attendees were, Lina Obeid, Yusuf Hannun, Peter Tonge and John Haley. They expressed their appreciation for the outstanding lectures presented at the symposium and acknowledged the significance of the ICB&DD and the collaborative efforts among academia and industry. They also commended Dr. Ojima for his leadership of the ICB&DD and congratulated his 70^th birthday. The Symposium was co-sponsored by the Office of the Vice-President for Research, Stony Brook School of Medicine, Department of Chemistry, Department of Pathology, Chembio Diagnostics Systems Inc., TargaGenix Inc.,

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ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Maurizio Del Poeta as a new Member. Dr. Del Poeta is a Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Stony Brook University. Dr. Del Poeta’s laboratory studies the function of sphingolipids involved in mediating signaling pathways and fungal pathogenesis. He has a particular interest in understanding the molecular mechanisms by which both, fungal and host sphingolipids, mediate the outcome of the interaction between fungal and mammalian cells. Dr. Del Poeta received his M.D. degree (1992) from University of Ancona, School of Medicine, Italy. He specialized in Infectious Diseases and performed a research fellowship (1992-1996) in the School of Medicine at the University of Ancona, Italy and in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC (1995-1996). Soon after his research fellowship at Duke University, Dr. Del Poeta became an independent scientific investigator on aspects of lipid metabolism and how it regulates the pathogenicity of infectious diseases, a field that he contributed to pioneering. He became an Assistant Professor (1999-2005), Associate Professor (2006-2011), Professor (2011-2012) in the Departments of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, and Microbiology & Immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC. Throughout the years, his research has been supported by the National Institute of Health, the US Department of Defense, the US Department of Education, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the American Heart Association and the Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center. Dr. Del Poeta recently initiated the research and development of new antifungals discovered in his laboratory. Together with Dr. Ojima at the Institute of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery and with Dr. Fries in the Division of Infectious Diseases, Dr. Del Poeta secured a large NIH grant to further study this new class of antifungals, which are urgently needed for our patients. Dr. Del Poeta’s expertise will extensively strengthen the ICB&DD Infectious Diseases Research Program.

Stony Brook Symposium Celebrating the Achievements of Professor Ojima on the Occasion of His 70^th Birthday

On June 5-6, 2015, a special symposium, Chemical Synthesis in Life Sciences was held at the Charles B. Wang Center, to celebrate the achievements of Professor Iwao Ojima, Distinguished Professor and Director of the Institute of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery (ICB&DD), on the occasion of his 70^th birthday. There were 230 registered attendees, including speakers, alumni, students, faculty and staff. This two-day Symposium featured 30 plenary, keynote and invited speakers who were all alumni of the Ojima Research Laboratory. The Symposium had five sessions, covering Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Drug Design, Discovery and Development, Chemistry and Multifaceted Career Development, Organic Synthesis and Synthetic Methods and Chemical Synthesis in Industries. In addition, there were Opening Lecture by Professor Makoto Fujita, The University of Tokyo and Closing Lecture by Professor Ojima, as well as Poster Sessions with 50 poster presentations. Full Symposium Program is available in the following link.

https://you.stonybrook.edu/symposiumchemicalsynthesis/files/2015/06/2015-SB-Symposium-Program-for-web-vjjaug.pdf.

Day one of the symposium was followed by the Symposium Reception and Banquet in the ballrooms of the Student Activities Center with 130 guests. At the Banquet, the volume 1 booklet of the dedicated papers to Professor Ojima was presented by Dr. Tadashi Honda, Director of the ICB&DD’s Anti-inflammatory Research Laboratory. Professor Ojima presented an after-dinner talk, entitled “Memorable Moments in the Three Decades of Life at Stony Brook", which is available in the following link.

http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/ojima_group/news/2015%20SB%20Symp%20Banquet%20After%20Dinner%20Talk.pdf

Also, the group photos of the Ojima Research Laboratory members since 1984 to 2014, which were shown during the Banquet, are available in the following link.

http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/ojima_group/news/Ojima%20Lab%20photos%201984-2014.pdf

Day two of the symposium was concluded with the Farewell Reception at the Theater Lobby of the Charles B. Wang Center. The Symposium was sponsored by the following firms: ImmunoGen, Inc., Crystal Brook Music International, Kimberly-Clark Corp., Merck & Co., Cytokinetics, Inc., Ajinomoto Pharmaceuticals Co., Hamari Chemicals Ltd, Tosoh F-Tech, Inc., Fujian Yew Park Biological Co. Ltd., Wilmerhale LLP, Reata Pharmaceuticals, Department of Chemistry and ICB&DD.

The Symposium photos are available in the following link.

https://plus.google.com/photos/114578494455594741403/albums/6167454474492236049

ICB&DD Congratulates Dr. Huilin Li, ICB&DD member and Professor of Biochemistry Department, for receiving a NIH high-end instrumentation grant ($2M) for Stony Brook. The grant will be used to purchase a 200 kV cryo-EM, a direct electron detector, and a volta phase plate. The new cryo-EM facility will be installed on the ground floor of the Center for Molecular Medicine, adjacent to the new 850 MHz NMR probes. Recent advance in cryo-EM equipment, particularly in direct electron detection and novel computational algorithm, has enabled cryo-EM to solve atomic or near atomic resolution structures of many proteins and their complexes, all with only a minuscule amount of sample and without the need for crystallization. In addition to revealing the structure-function of key biological machines, cryo-EM method is being actively used by structural biologists around the world to investigate drug-target complexes, such as the microtubule-stabilizing agents, proteasome inhibitors, and many membrane receptors and transporters.

ICB&DD faculty receive NIH funds for state-of-the-art instrument for drug screening

biocore A team of 15 ICB&DD faculty research groups received $204,000 in federal funding from the National Institutes of Health to set up a molecular screening system at Stony Brook. Projects that will benefit from this instrument include development of new antibiotics, pain therapies and targeted anti-cancer therapies.

The GE Healthcare Life Sciences Biacore T200 surface plasmon resonance instrument is a state-of-the-art instrument to detect binding of drug-like molecules to target proteins. The instrument will be housed in the proteomics core facility in the Health Science Center where it will be used to determine the affinity and rate of ligand binding. This new technology enables the complete cycle for rational structure-based drug development at Stony Brook.

equip markus Three dimensional structures of drug targets can be determined at Stony Brook with ultra-high field 850 MHz and 700 MHz NMR instrumentation as well as the robotic crystal screening facility and access to the National Synchrotron Light Source II at Brookhaven National Lab – one of the brightest and most advanced X-ray sources in the world. Large libraries of small molecule compounds can be screened for binding to the three dimensional structures of drug targets through support by world leaders in method development for computational docking procedures, force field development and mathematical methods. The T200 instrument can be used to experimentally characterize lead candidates which can be optimized by medicinal chemists in the ICB&DD medicinal chemistry groups.

ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Chia-Shin (Lori) Chan as a Project Member. Dr. Chia-Hsin (Lori) Chan is an Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacological Sciences, School of Medicine, Stony Brook University. Dr. Chan’s research program includes (a) Delineation of the network of metabolic reprogramming in tumor initiation and progression, (b) Exploration of regulatory machinery orchestrating EMT-driven glycolysis or EMT as new therapeutic interventions. Dr. Chan received her Ph.D. (2007) in biochemistry and molecular biology from the National Taiwan University in Taiwan. Her graduate studies focused on transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of eukaryotic gene expression, using retroviruses as a model system. She was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow under the mentorship of Hui-Kuan Lin in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. Dr. Chan was the recipient of several awards including Breast Cancer SPORE Career Development Award, The Harold C. and Mary L. Daily Endowment Fellowship Award, Susan G Komen Postdoctoral Fellowship Award and Odyssey Outstanding Research Publication Awards, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Chan’s research would surely strengthen the Cancer Research Program.

ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Geoffrey Girnun as a member. Dr. Girnun is an Associate Professor of the Department of Pathology and Director of Cancer Metabolomics, School of Medicine, Stony Brook University. His research is focused on linking fundamental aspects of metabolism and diseases such as diabetes and cancer. In particularly, on metabolic regulators and their role in disease. Currently his lab is focused on metabolic alterations in disease with a strong emphasis on PPARg co activator 1 (PGC1a), a master regulator of multiple metabolic functions. He is currently using transgenic approaches to knockout out PGC1a in specific tissues to determine its role in cancer and metabolic diseases. Dr. Girnun received his Ph.D. in free radical and radiation biology, from the University Of Iowa College Of Medicine. He was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and later an Instructor, in the Department of Cell and Cancer Biology, at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (1999-2003). He became an Assistant Professor of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine (2007-2013). Dr. Girnun was the recipient of several awards including the Madeline Franchi Ovarian Cancer Fund Award, NIH K01 Award, Individual National Research Service Award, NIDDK, and Carver Medical Research Trust Award. Dr. Girnun’s expertise will significantly strengthen the ICB&DD's Cancer Research Program.

kim ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Hyungjin Kim as aproject member. Dr. Kim is an Assistant Professor of the Department of Pharmacological Sciences, School of Medicine, Stony Brook University. Dr. Kim received his Ph.D. in Molecular Cell Biology (2009) from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. He was a research postdoctoral fellow (2010-2014) in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School under the mentorship of Dr. Alan D. D’Andrea, M.D. Dr. Kim’s research focuses on the Fanconi anemia DNA interstrand cross-link repair and Translesion DNA synthesis DNA damage tolerance mechanism, to better understand the signaling pathways of DNA repair and how their defects are associated with tumorigenesis. His research complements Dr. Sharer's program on DNA damage/repair, and would strengthen the Cancer Research Program.

2014 News

ICB&DD congratulates Professor Iwao Ojima. He has been named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI)

(Copied from the SBU news)

STONY BROOK, N.Y., December 16, 2014 – Iwao Ojima, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemistry, and Director of the Institute of Chemical Biology & Drug Discovery (ICB&DD) at Stony Brook University, has been named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

According to the NAI, election as an “NAI Fellow” is “a high professional distinction accorded to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.” Dr. Ojima and other new 2014 NAI Fellows will be inducted on March 20, 2015, as part of the 4^th Annual Conference of the NAI at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

“Professor Ojima has had a highly distinguished career as an educator, researcher and inventor at Stony Brook,” said Samuel L. Stanley Jr., MD, President of Stony Brook University. "His work in medicinal chemistry and chemical biology has led to important discoveries, contributing to the betterment of society. I am so pleased to see his many accomplishments recognized by this distinguished academy."

“Dr. Ojima has distinguished himself as a world-renowned scholar and inventor with outstanding contributions to a broad range of chemical sciences,” said Benjamin Hsiao, PhD, a Professor in the Department of Chemistry, Affiliated Professor in Materials Science & Engineering, and Founding Director of the Innovative Global Energy Solutions Center at Stony Brook University. “His work at Stony Brook has impacted global research and discovery in the areas of organic, organometallic, fluorine medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry, as well as chemical biology and drug discovery, with multifaceted interfaces with chemistry, biology and medicine.”

A faculty member in Chemistry at Stony Brook since 1983, Dr. Ojima has been granted more than 100 patents. The Research Foundation for the State University of New York has filed more than 80 of these patents globally on his behalf.

Additionally, since 2004 his leadership as Director of the ICB&DD has brought interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research bridging the physical sciences, biological sciences, biomedical engineering and various School of Medicine departments together, along with expertise from Brookhaven National Laboratory, to tackle significant biomedical problems and find solutions, including the discovery of novel therapeutic drugs. During these 10 years, the ICB&DD has received more than $40 million in research grant funding to advance discoveries.

Dr. Ojima’s many contributions to medicinal chemistry and chemical biology include: the discovery and development of a new generation of taxoid anticancer agents, which possess excellent anticancer activity against drug-resistant cancer cells and tumors; the development of fluorine-containing taxoids as excellent probes for the identification of bioactive conformations of paclitaxel and taxoids; the creation of highly efficacious taxoid conjugates with monoclonal antibodies, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamins for tumor-targeting cancer chemotherapy; and the discovery and development of novel anti-tuberculosis agents targeting bacterial cell division protein.

“I am honored to receive this esteemed distinction as an NAI Fellow,” said Dr. Ojima. “We will continue to promote our sprit of innovation and invention at Stony Brook and through multidisciplinary collaborative research ventures at the ICB&DD, with the goal of discovering and developing new and efficacious therapeutic drugs to treat challenging diseases.”

SUNY Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Alexander N. Cartwright was also named a 2014 NAI Fellow.

“Groundbreaking, impactful research conducted by our faculty and students across New York State is an incredible source of pride for SUNY as we aim to drive knowledge and innovation in a global economy,” said SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher. “Congratulations to Dr. Cartwright and Dr. Ojima on this distinct honor from the NAI. This honorable recognition is a testament not only to their outstanding work but to the innovation ecosystems that SUNY campuses foster in every region.”

More About Distinguished Professor Dr. Iwao Ojima

Iwao Ojima received his B.S. (1968), M.S. (1970), and Ph.D. (1973) degrees from the University of Tokyo, Japan. He joined the Sagami Institute of Chemical Research and held a position as Senior Research Fellow until 1983. He joined the faculty at the Department of Chemistry, State University of New York at Stony Brook first as Associate Professor (1983), was promoted to Professor (1984), Leading Professor (1991), and then to University Distinguished Professor (1995). He served as the Department Chairman from1997 to 2003. He serves as the founding Director for the Institute of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery (ICB&DD) at Stony Brook from 2003. Also, he was a Visiting Professor at the Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, France (1989), The University of Tokyo, Japan (1996), The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA (1997), and Université de Paris XI, BIOCIS, Châtenay-Malabry, France (1997).

His research interests include medicinal chemistry and chemical biology (anticancer agents, tumor-targeted drug delivery, antibacterial agents, enzyme inhibitors), catalytic asymmetric synthesis, organic synthesis by means of organometallic reagents and catalysts, peptidomimetics, b-lactam chemistry (applications of the beta-lactam synthon method), and organofluorine chemistry (fluoroamino acids and peptides, fluorotaxoids, medicinal applications). He has published more than 400 papers and reviews in leading journals and more than l00 patents issued (33 US patents), edited 8 books (SciFinder lists >850 publications to his credits; Google Scholar indicates total citation number of >19,500 as of September 2014), and he has given more than 120 Plenary and Invited Lectures in international conferences and symposia by September 2014.

He is a recipient of the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award (1994), the E. B. Hershberg Award (for important discovery of medicinally active substances) (2001) and the ACS Award for Creative Work in Fluorine Chemistry (2013) from the American Chemical Society; The Chemical Society of Japan Award (for distinguished achievements) (1999) from the Chemical Society of Japan; Outstanding Inventor Award (2002) from the Research Foundation of the State University of New York. He was inducted into the Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame, American Chemical Society (2006). He is a Fellow of the J. S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1995-), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1997-), The New York Academy of Sciences (2000-), and the American Chemical Society (2010-).

He has served in various advisory committees for National Institutes of Health (National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of General Medical Sciences), National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy. He has served as a member of the Executive Committee for the Division of Organic Chemistry and the Long Range Planning Committee for the Division of Medicinal Chemistry, American Chemical Society.

He has served and has been serving as Editorial Advisory Board member of Journal of Organic Chemistry, Organometallics, Journal of Molecular Catalysis, Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry (current), Medicinal Chemistry (current), Letters in Drug Design & Discovery (current), Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan (current), and Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry (current). He has also served as the Guest Editor for thematic issues of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, Accounts of Chemical Research, and Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry. In addition, he serves as the Senior Editor of “Future Medicinal Chemistry.”

Additional Quotes from Stony Brook faculty:

“Dr, Ojima has for many years been one of Stony Brook University’s leading faculty in technology transfer and innovation in the biomedical realm,” said David O. Conover, Interim Vice President for Research. “He is richly deserving of this award, and I congratulate him on this outstanding career achievement.”

“One of Stony Brook’s most prolific inventors, Dr. Ojima has developed numerous new chemical entities that have the potential to be efficacious therapeutics for cancer and infectious disease,” said Peter Donnelly, Director of the Office of Technology Licensing and Industry Relations. “Dr. Ojima has worked closely with our office and industry to successfully foster commercial partnerships to translate his discoveries into therapeutic modalities.”

“I am delighted that Dr. Ojima is being inducted into the NAI,” said Nicole Sampson, Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry. “He is the fourth Stony Brook Chemistry faculty member inducted into the NAI. This recognition illustrates the centrality of chemistry for the translation of fundamental research into applications that benefit humanity.”

ICB&DD Members attended the 2014 CIBR 1st International Symposium of Chemistry and Life Sciences

GATHERING IN JIANGYIN, Speakers, organizers, and guests at the ACSCIBR symposium included Corey (front row, fifth from left) and Zhou (back row, sixth from left). Participating in the ACS-CIBR symposium as speakers, organizers, and guests are (front row, left to right) James J. Chou, Harvard Medical School; Wuyi Meng, CIBR; Shaomeng Wang, University of Michigan; Peng Wang, Yabao Pharmaceutical Group; Corey; Li He Zhang, Peking University; William J. Greenlee, MedChem Discovery Consulting; Iwao Ojima, Nicole S. Sampson, and Peter J. Tonge, all with Stony Brook University, SUNY; and John J. Piwinski, JJPiwinski Pharma Consulting. Back row, left to right: Zhijie Chang, Tsinghua University; Hong Shen, Roche Innovation Center Shanghai; Jiaquan Wu and Liang Zhu of CIBR; Haijun Zhang, Biortus; Zhou; Duan Liu, WuXi AppTec; Lan He, National Institutes for Food & Drug Control; Yali Chen, CIBR; and Steven Hill, ACS Office of International Activities.

The ACS International Chemical Sciences Chapter in Shanghai put on a winner with the 1st International Symposium of Chemistry & Life Sciences, held on Oct. 16–17 in Jiangyin, in Jiangsu province, China. With about 125 attendees, the meeting highlighted the challenges and opportunities in drug discovery for cancer and infectious diseases. An international slate of speakers, led by Nobel Laureate and Harvard University emeritus chemistry professor E. J. Corey, described trends and new approaches to discovering drugs for cancer and infectious diseases. “Infectious diseases and cancer are two major disease classes in China,” said Jingye Zhou, a principal scientist at the Lilly China R&D Center and the chair of the ACS Shanghai chapter. “The symposium shone some light on the R&D work that could help patients in China and worldwide.” The chapter partnered with the E. J. Corey Institute of Biomedical Research (CIBR), in Jiangyin, in organizing the meeting. CIBR is a nonprofit research organization nominally founded by Corey and a group of Chinese returnees and funded by the Jiangyin local government and Jiangsu province. Its mission is to make a difference in the treatment and diagnosis of disease, specifically tuberculosis. In presenting a “superoverview” of cancer, Corey described the disease as caused by cascading dysregulation when things go wrong in the highly ordered, very low entropy system that is the human body. “Cancer is an inevitable condition because of the imperfections of the body transiting from one state to another,” he said. “If we all were to live to a very old age and had otherwise perfect health, we would die of cancer.” The ultimate advance—the real prize—he said, is rapid methods for early diagnosis. The symposium was “excellent” and “very interesting,” Corey told C&EN. “The folks in Jiangyin are delighted to have a connection with ACS. They see ACS as a premier organization that gives them a link to the outside world.” “Many scientists in China are unable to attend ACS national meetings due to logistic hurdles,” Zhou told C&EN. “By creating a local ACS organized symposium, we brought topnotch scientific exchange to a broad community in China. The symposium also enabled local ACS members to network with each other and with international speakers.” (Copied from C&EN)

ICB&DD 8th Annual Symposium

group

(from left to right), Drs. Iwao Ojima, Alan D’Andrea, Barry Stoddard, Vincent Yang, Miguel Garcia Diaz, Cynthia Burrows, Thomas Tuschl, Chuan He and Orlando Schärer

On Thursday, October 9, 2014, ICB&DD hosted its eighth ICB&DD Annual symposium entitled, “Frontiers in Genome Sciences” at the Charles B. Wang Center, Stony Brook University. The symposium featured seven Plenary Lecturers. Two of the lecturers, Dr. Dr. Miguel Garcia-Diaz and Dr. Vincent Yang represented Stony Brook University. The event was well attended by a widely ranging audience composed of faculty, research staff and students on campus and Brookhaven National laboratory, as well as universities and industries in the Greater NY metropolitan area. The Poster Session equally attracted a large participation of students from Stony Brook University, Stony Brook Cancer Center, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Columbia University and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center among others. There were 66 scientific papers presented at the Poster Session. Dr. Orlando Schärer, Professor of Pharmacological Sciences, Stony Brook University and Chair of the Symposium Organizing Committee, opened the symposium, and introduced Dr. Yusuf Hannun, Professor of Medicine and Director, Stony Brook Cancer Center, and Vice-Dean for Cancer Medicine, Stony Brook University ojima School of Medicine, who gave welcome remarks for the Symposium. Then, Dr. Schärer introduced Dr. Iwao Ojima, Distinguished Professor and Director of ICB&DD. Dr. Ojima concisely summarized the history of accomplishments, and the current and future goals of ICB&DD.

Dr. Nicole Sampson, Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University introduced the first Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Cynthia J. Burrows, Distinguished Professor, University of Utah. Dr. Burrows gavea lecture entitled, “Shape-Shifters: How Promoter and Telometric DNA Sequences Respond to Oxidative Stress”. In her presentation, Dr. Burrows provided an overview of her research that indicates that “oxidative stress in the cell results in modifications to DNA and RNA bases and downstream events including effects on transcription and replication as well as signaling for repair. Ultimately unrepaired damage in DNA leads to mutagenesis that is a contributing factor to cancer and other diseases”. Dr. David Green, Associate Professor, Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Stony Brook University introduced the second Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Barry Stoddard, Principal Investigator, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Dr. Stoddard gave a lecture entitled, “Structure, Engineering and Application of Targeted Nucleases for Genome Engineering and Correction”. In his presentation, Dr. Stoddard discussed the approaches that are now being used in the rapidly maturing discipline of genome engineering and targeted gene modification “in which genomes within cell lines, tissues or organisms are manipulated and altered at specific individual loci”.

Dr. Elizabeth Boon, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University introduced the third Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Chuan He, Professor, The University of Chicago and Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. He gave a lecture entitled, “Reversible DNA and RNA Methylation and Biological Regulation”. In his presentation, Dr. He stated that, “we have developed chemical and biochemical methods to precisely map and study active DNA demethylation in mammalian systems,” and as a result of the use these techniques, his research team’s “discoveries indicate the presence of a new mode of biological regulation that depends on reversible RNA modification”. Dr. Orlando Schärer introduced the fourth Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Alan D. D’Andrea, Professor, Harvard Medical School and Scientific Director, Division of Genomic Stability and DNA Repair, Dana Faber Cancer Institute. Dr. D’Andrea gave a lecture entitled, “Fanconi Anemia/BRCA Pathway and its control by Ubiquitination”. “Fanconi Anemia (FA) is a rare autosomal recessive X linked recessive cancer susceptibility disorder characterized by bone marrow failure, congenital malformations, and cellular hypersensitivity to Cisplatin, Mitomycin C, and other crosslionking agents”. Dr. D’Andrea’s lecture focused “on the specific roles of Ubiquitin and SUMO in the regulation of the Fanconi Anemia/BRCA pathway”. genesis that is a contributing factor to cancer and other diseases”.

Dr. Kenneth Shroyer, Professor and Chair, Department of Pathology, Stony Brook University introduced the fifth Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Vincent W. Yang, Professor and Chairman, Department of Medicine, Stony Brook

University School of Medicine. Dr. Yang gave a lecture entitled, “Intestinal Stem Cells: Dynamics and Regulation”. In his presentation, Dr. Yang reviewed the recent literature regarding how proliferation and lineage determination of Lgr5-expression intestinal stem cells (ISC) is regulated. He also discussed “the roles of a number of transcription factors called Krüppel-like factors (KLFs), in regulating proliferation and differentiation of ISC in the intestinal epithelium”.

Dr. Jessica Seeliger, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Stony Brook University introduced the sixth Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Miguel Garcia-Diaz, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Stony Brook University School of Medicine. Dr. Garcia-Diaz gave a lecture entitled, “Mechanisms of Mitochondrial Transcription and Mitochondrial Disease”. In his presentation, Dr. Garcia-Diaz described the extensive evidence that “links mitochondrial deficiencies to human pathology, with defects in gene expression playing a central role in pathogenesis.” His research team has “been studying the regulation of mitochondrial transcription, its association with ribosome biogenesis and how defects in transcriptional termination can contribute to mitochondrial disease”. Dr. Jingfang Ju, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, Stony Brook University introduced the seventh Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Thomas Tuschl, Professor, The Rockefeller University and Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Tuchl gave a lecture entitled, “RNA Regulation and DNA Diagnostics”. In his presentation, Dr. Tuschl discussed his research group’s “experimental approaches for studying RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) and defining their target RNAs and how these can be guided by their census”.

otb Dr. Schärer gave the closing remarks, thanking the Plenary Lecturers for their outstanding presentations as well as the Organizing Committee members for the successful planning and execution of the 8^thAnnual ICB&DD Symposium.

There were 66 scientific papers presented in the Poster Session. The best three posters were selected for the Poster Awards. Historically, there have been two but the best poster for the medicinal chemistry category was awarded this year. The award-winning posters this year were: Lingling Jiang from the laboratory of Robert Rizzo. Grace Tan from the laboratory of Markus Seeliger and Weixuan Yu for the medicinal chemistry category from the
laboratory of Peter Tonge.

The 8^th ICB&DD Symposium culminated with a splendid dinner at the Chapel of the Charles B. Wang Center. Among the attendees were, Lina Obeid (Vice-Dean of Research, Stony Brook University School of Medicine), Maria Ryan (Chair, Department of Oral Biology and Pathology) and John Haley (Professor of Research, po2 Department of Pathology and Director of Proteomics, former Senior Research Director of Translational Research, OSI Pharmaceuticals). They expressed their appreciation for the outstanding lectures presented at the Symposium. Equally they acknowledged the high level of importance of ICB&DD collaborative efforts among academia and industry. They all congratulated Dr. Ojima for his numerous contributions and successful leadership of the ICB&DD. This year, as part as commemorating 8 years of remarkable success of these annual symposia, Dr. Ojima presented a “Glass Flame of Appreciation” to every chair of the organizing committee since its inauguration from 2007. The flame of appreciation awards were presented to Drs. James Bliska, Daniel Raleigh, Nicole Sampson, Maria Ryan, Peter Tonge, Todd Miller, Robert Haltiwanger and Orlando Scharer. A “Glass Flame of Appreciation” was also presented to Ms. Roxanne Brockner, Assistant to the Director of ICB&DD. Dr. Ojima cited her crucial contributions to the success of ICB&DD, and particularly big applauses were given to her distinction. The Symposium was co-sponsored by, Office of the Vice-President for Research, Stony Brook University School of Medicine, Department of Chemistry and Chem-Master International Inc.

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Stony Brook Researchers Quantify Underlyinglandscape of Cancer

jin The cellular and genetic hallmarks of cancer development are multiple, and a team of researchers in the Departments of Chemistry and Physics at Stony Brook University have developed a pictorial yet quantitative landscape theory to explore cancer cellular development that could form the foundation to new anticancer tactics. Their research and methods used are published in two new scientific papers. One is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) early edition and titled “Landscape and flux reveal a new global view and physical quantification of mammalian cell cycle,” and the other is published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface and titled “Quantifying the underlying landscape and paths of cancer.” In the PNAS paper, the researchers considered one of the hallmarks of cancer – the cell cycle. The cell cycle speed of cancer is much faster than normal cells. By quantitatively uncovering the landscape of the cell cycle, the researchers are able to visualize the cell cycle progress and illustrate its journey along a “ring valley” with hills and valleys. By showing this unconventional view of the cell cycle quite different from standard texts, they discovered two major forces for the cell cycle: the cycle flux as the driving force originated from the nutrition supply for accelerating cell cycle and the barriers from the “hills and valleys” as the dragging force for decelerating cell cycle. “By identifying two cell cycle driving forces, and the key genes and regulations influencing these forces, we believe this could be the basis for an anti-cancer targeting strategy that targets these key genes and regulations, as well as the nutrition supply to reduce the cell cycle speed from fast cancer back to normal cell speed,” explained Prof. Jin Wang, PhD, a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry, an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Physics, and a member of the Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology, and a member of the Institute of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery. In the Journal of the Royal Society paper, the research team developed a global potential landscape and path framework to quantify cancer and associated processes, all of which involves the interaction of genes. In this conceptual and quantitative picture, the cancer and normal cells can be viewed as different basins of a landscape. The landscape topography characterizes important biological states, such as normal, cancer, and cancer cell proliferation. “In this case we are uncovering multiple hallmarks of cancer, not just one, and with that we can identify the key genes and regulations determining the depths of cancer and normal basins as well as the transition barriers in between,” said Professor Wang. “The landscape shape can be used as a potential way to design anti-cancer strategies by targeting multiple genes and gene regulation patterns.” Prof. Wang, and his Stony Brook post-doctoral researcher and co-author Dr. Chunhe Li of the Department of Chemistry, along with scientific collaborators in China will continue the research in order to build and refine quantitative models of the cellular landscape of cancer. The combined research is supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Science Foundation of China. (copied from the SBU news)

- See more at: http://sb.cc.stonybrook.edu/news/research/924CancerStudy.php#sthash.4DIndHBu.dpuf

ICB&DD congratulates Dr. Scott Laughlin for receiving a National Science Foundation Award for Brain Initiative Research. The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Dr. Scott Laughlin, an Early Concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER). The EAGER awards are part of the foundation’s support of the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, a multi-agency research effort that seeks to accelerate the development of new neurotechnologies that promise to help researchers answer fundamental questions about how the brain works. In March of this year, NSF asked researchers to submit ideas for early-stage, potentially ground-breaking new approaches to reveal how neuronal processes in the brain lead to complex behaviors in any organism. NSF reviewed the summaries and invited full proposals from applicants whose ideas best aligned with the outlined research topics. Dr. Laughlin, ICB&DD Project Member and Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Stony Brook, was among 36 recipients of these EAGER awards. Each EAGER award is for $300,000 over a two-year period, and award recipients will apply this funding to develop a range of conceptual and physical tools, from real-time whole brain imaging, to new theories of neural networks, to next-generation optogenetics. Dr. Laughlin will apply the grant funds to an investigation of the use of synthetic molecules for mapping the connections between neurons in the brain. See more at: http://sb.cc.stonybrook.edu/news/general/2014-08-25-sbu-professor-receives-nsf-eager-award-for-brain-research.php

french ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Jarrod French as a Project Member. Dr. French is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology as well as Department of Chemistry. Dr. French utilizes a highly interdisciplinary approach to study the structure, function and control of enzymes and enzyme complexes involved in cellular metabolism. His research particularly focuses in understanding how multi-protein macromolecular machines provide spatial and temporal control over metabolic pathways in cells. The long term goal of his research is to characterize the structure, functions and control mechanisms of these protein assemblies and to exploit this information to develop novel treatments for cancer and inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. He has employed a variety of techniques including X-ray crystallography, mechanistic enzymology, microscopy and chemical biology. After completing an undergraduate degree (2004) with a double major in chemistry and biology from Brock University (St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada), Dr. French received his MS (2007) in Biomedical Sciences and his Ph.D. (2010) in Chemical Biology from Cornell University, NY. He was the recipient of a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Postdoctoral Fellowship and completed his postdoctoral research fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Stephen Benkovic in the Department of Biochemistry at the Pennsylvania State University (2011-2013). Dr. French has an exceptionally strong background in chemical biology, mechanistic enzymology and macromolecular crystallography. He was recently recruited through the Biomolecular Imaging Cluster Hire. Dr. French will be an excellent addition to the cancer and anti-inflammatory research programs as well as the chemical biology training program.

ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Steven Glynn as a Project Member. Dr. Glynn is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology. Dr. Glynn’s research uses x-ray crystallography, mechanistic biochemistry and protein design techniques to uncover the operating principles of energy-dependent proteolytic machines in mitochondria. The main goal of his research is to understand, on a molecular level, how mitochondrial energy-dependent proteases select specific protein targets, and the nature of the mechano-chemical coupling that drives dislocation, translocation and ultimately, degradation. Such knowledge will shed light on the general operating principles of the diverse family of AAA+ machines. Dr. Glynn received his Ph.D. (2005) in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from the University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom. He completed his postdoctoral research training in the laboratory of Professor Robert T. Sauer in the Department of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2006-2010). Dr. Glynn’s research has been published in high quality scientific journals. He will be an excellent addition to cancer and infectious diseases research programs, as well as chemical biology training program.

martin ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Martin Kaczocha as a Project Member. Dr. Kaczocha is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, School of Medicine, Stony Brook University. Dr. Kaczocha’s research focuses on fatty acid binding proteins: novel targets for the development of anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive drugs. Dr. Kaczocha received his Ph.D. (2009) in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. His graduate studies focused on the role of fatty acid binding proteins and FAAH-2 in endocannabinoid uptake and inactivation. He received his bachelor in sciences in Pharmacology with honors from Stony Brook University. Dr. Kaczocha was the recipient of several awards including the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Postdoctoral Teaching Fellowship and NIH Research Training Fellowship. His current research program seeks to develop fatty acid binding protein inhibitors as novel antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory drugs. This research is part of a multi-investigator project of ICB&DD funded by the National Institutes of Drug Abuse (NIDA). Dr. Kaczocha will be an excellent addition to the anti-inflammatory research program, as well as chemical biology training program.

From the Lab Bench to the Computer

Brian Ralph ’15 combines two approaches to researching innovative pain medication

A passion for both science and math has been a boon for undergraduate Brian Ralph, catapulting him to the crossroads of a major multidisciplinary research project. Since joining the team at theInstitute for Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery (ICB&DD) at Stony Brook, Brian has worked with researchers in Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chemistry, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, and Anesthesiology to develop new pain medications that will work by elevating the levels of natural painkillers in the body. “It’s a great group,” says Brian, a member of the Honors College who is a biology major with a concentration in quantitative biology and bioinformatics — in his words “a bit of a crossover between biology and math.” Now a junior, Brian has been working in Dale Deutsch’s biochemistry lab since his freshman year. Deutsch, Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences, and his associates are studying new classes of inhibitors that temporarily stop the action of Fatty Acid Body Proteins (FABPs) present in our cells. The result of this inhibition is an artificial elevation in the natural painkillers — called endocannabinoids — that exist in our bodies. Drugs that may eventually be developed from this research will not be addictive, which is a common problem with the opioids now widely used.

Last month, the ICB&DD received a $3.8 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to continue its groundbreaking work. Led by Principal Investigator Deutsch, other members of the team include Iwao Ojima, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Director of the ICB&DD; Martin Kaczocha, a former post-doctoral fellow in Deutsch’s lab who is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology; Robert Rizzo, Associate Professor of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics; Bill Berger, a PhD candidate in Ojima’s lab; Huilin Li, a biochemist in both the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology and at Brookhaven National Lab; and the Laufer Center for Quantitative and Physical Biology.

To tackle the project from another direction, Brian also works in Rizzo’s lab using software that allows him to visualize and manipulate the FABP protein structures in three-dimensional space. “Different laboratories have different approaches to the same research,” explains Brian. “In Dale’s lab we take a biological approach, and here it’s more of a computational or structural approach.”

In December 2012 Brian co-authored a paper based on the team’s research with Berger and Koczocha in PlosOne. He is also co-author, along with Kaczocha, of a second paper submitted to PlosOne for review. Brian started doing research when he was a student at Smithtown High School West as part of Stony Brook’s Simons Summer Research Program, when he worked with Alan Turner in the Department of Anatomical Sciences. His work in the Deutsch lab has been supported by URECA and a Harvard Lyman award. Brian is a member of both the Undergraduate Biochemistry Society and the Undergraduate Biology Advisory Board.

With the goal of becoming a dentist, Brian is also active in Stony Brook’s Pre-dental Society and has shadowed pediatric dentists and oral surgeons. Will he combine research and dentistry someday? “That’s still up to debate,” says Brian. “I love dentistry. It’s something that’s become very close to me. And while I wish to pursue dentistry, I definitely want to continue with research in the future because it has been such a big part of my life.” In his spare time, Brian plays the cello in Stony Brook’s undergraduate orchestra. He also enjoys cycling and running and is training for a triathlon next spring. “In the end, I would love to live a modest life as a dentist,” he says. “Something where I’d be able to enjoy my life and what I do every day. I’d also like to be able to contribute to the ongoing questions in science and research as part of a lab. And, of course, someday I would love to see Stony Brook’s FABP inhibitor on the market. “You never know. Five, ten years from now, maybe we’ll have advances that can put it through clinical trials, and we’ll see where it goes from there. I’d love to see our whole lab group — the ICB&DD’s — name on a pain inhibitor, something as common as aspirin, hopefully.” (copied from the SBU news by Toby Speed.)

2013 News

ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Scott T. Laughlin as a Project Member. Dr. Laughlin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry. Dr. Laughlin’s research uses chemistry to examine how the brain works. How does the brain sense the environment? How does it decode that sensory information and control behavior? All of the brain’s many functions rely on its neural circuits—a complex web of neurons connected to each other in such a way that they can perform the logical operations that allow us to think, respond to stimuli, etc. Precisely how neural circuits perform their calculations is a mystery whose solution has wide ranging implications for human health. Using organic synthesis, molecular biology, and behavioral neurobiology, he creates chemical tools to help reveal the structure of neural circuits in living animals. Dr. Laughlin’s received his Ph.D. (2008) in Chemistry and Chemical Biology from University of California, Berkeley. He completed his postdoctoral research fellowship in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at University of California, Berkeley in the laboratory of Professor John Ngai (2008-2013). Dr. Laughlin has an exceptionally strong background in chemistry and neuroscience. He is exploring the interface of chemistry and neurobiology, i.e., "chemical neurobiology". He is one of the "Chemical Biology Initiative" hires at the Chemistry Department and started this past September. Dr. Laughlin will be an excellent addition to the Chemical Biology Training Program and will lead the establishment of Chemical Neurobiology Program at ICB&DD.

ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Ming-Yu Ngai as a Project Member. Dr. Ngai is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry. Dr. Ngai’s research focuses on developing novel and practical synthetic methodologies to address unmet challenges in organic synthesis and medicinal chemistry, and (ii) identifying and developing new radiotracers for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging to elucidate disease mechanisms, identify drug targets, assess treatment efficacy, and accelerate drug discovery and development. Dr. Ngai’s research interests are multidisciplinary, covering organic and organometallic chemistry, photochemistry, radiochemistry, and biomedical imaging. Dr. Ngai received his Ph.D. (2008) in Chemistry from University of Texas, Austin. He was awarded a Croucher Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Stanford University and worked in the laboratory of Professor Barry M. Trost (2009-2011). He also performed postdoctoral research at Harvard University in the laboratory of Professor Tobias Ritter (2011-2013). Dr. Ngai has an exceptionally strong background in chemical synthesis and will apply it to molecular imaging for diagnosis and therapy. He is one of the "Chemical Biology Initiative" hires at the Chemistry Department and started this past September. Dr. Ngai will be an excellent addition to cancer and infectious diseases research programs, as well as chemical biology training program.

Congratulations to the ICB&DD team, consisting of Drs. Dale Deutsch (PI) Department of Biochemistry, Iwao Ojima (Co-PI) Department of Chemistry, Robert Rizzo (Co-PI) Department of Applied nida Mathematics and Statistics, Huiling Li (Co-PI) Department of Biochemistry and Martin Kaczocha (Co-PI) Department of Anesthesiology, School of Medicine on receiving a research award from the National In

nida group

stitutes of Health, National Institute of Drug Abuse. This ICB&DD multidisciplinary research team has received a five-year $3.8 million grant for the project entitled “Anandamide Transport Inhibitors”. The main focus of this grant is to develop new drugs, inhibiting recently discovered anandamide transporter, for pain, stress and issues with drug addiction and withdrawal. Anandamide is a neurotransmitter that occurs naturally throughout the body for regulation of pain and stress. This is a very exemplary multi-disciplinary research project of productive collaborative efforts among faculty and ICB&DD. Initial funding for the research began with a SBU-BNL seed grant to Dr. Deutsch and Dr. Li from Stony Brook University and Brookhaven National Laboratory in 2010, followed by a Stony Brook University School of Medicine Targeted Research Opportunities (TRO) Fusion award to Drs. Deutsch, Li, and Ojima as well as a New York State SUNY REACH grant for Drs. Deutsch and Haj-Dahmane. Dr. Deutsch also received a previous single investigator grant from the NIH to research FABPs. - See more at:

http://stonybrookmedicine.edu/newsroom/nida-grant

ICB&DD 7th Annual Symposium

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(from left to right) Drs. Jonathan Rudick, Miguel Garcia-Díaz, Iwao Ojima, Nicole Sampson, Linda Hsieh-Wilson, David Green, Geert-Jan Boons, Gerard Hart, Jeffery Esko and Richard Cummings

On Friday, October 11, 2013, The ICB&DD hosted its seventh ICB&DD Annual Symposium entitled, “Frontiers in Glycosciences and Chemical Biology” at the Charles B. Wang Center, Stony Brook University. The symposium featured seven Plenary Lecturers. Two of the lecturers, David Green and Nicole Sampson represented Stony Brook University. The event was very well attended by a widely ranging audience composed of faculty, research staff and students on campus and Brookhaven National Laboratory, as well as universities and industries in the greater NY metropolitan area. The Poster Session equally attracted a large participation of students from Stony Brook University, New York University, Columbia University, Chembio Diagnostic Systems Inc, and Brookhaven National Laboratory among others. There were 82 scientific papers presented at the Poster Session.

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Dr. Robert Haltiwanger, Chair of the Symposium Organizing Committee, opened the Symposium, and introduced Dr. Bejamin Hsiao, Vice President for Research at Stony Brook University, who gave welcome remarks for the Symposium. Then, Dr. Haltiwanger introduced Dr. Iwao Ojima, Distinguished Professor and Director of ICB&DD. Dr. Ojima concisely summarized the history of accomplishments, current and future goals of ICB&DD.

ger Dr. Haltiwanger, Professor and Chair of Cell Biology and Biochemistry, introduced the first Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Gerald Hart, Professor and Director of Biological Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Hart gave a lecture entitled, “Nutrient Regulation of Signaling & Transcription: Roles of O-GlcNAcylation in Diabetes, Cancer and Neurodegeneration”. He presented an excellent overview of his research program on understanding how dynamic O-GlcNAcylation serves as a major sensor of cellular nutrient status and how it regulates transcription, signaling and metabolism in response to nutrients.

geert Dr. Jonathan Rudick, Assistant Professor of Chemistry introduced the second Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Geert-Jan Boons, Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Georgia. Dr. Boons gave a lecture entitled, “Glycoscience: Downsizing or Oversizing?” His presentation described a chemoenzymatic strategy that can provide libraries of highly complex asymmetrical N-glycans

jeff Dr. Wei-Xing Zong, Associate Professor of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology introduced the third Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Jeffery Esko, Professor, Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine, University of California at San Diego. Dr. Esko gave a very stimulating lecture entitled, “Heparin Sulfate: Light at the End of the Chain”. In his presentation, Dr. Esko focused on the need for improved biomarkers for differential diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring of therapeutic interventions for mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS).

nico Dr. Elizabeth Boon, Associate Professor of Chemistry introduced the fourth Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Nicole Sampson, Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University. Dr. Sampson gave a lecture entitled, “Mycobacteria on Steroids: Metabolite Profiling and Enzyme Function”. She described the identification of two new structural-functional enzyme motifs in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) for the catalysis of b-oxidation with steroid substrates in the igr operon that function in the metabolic pathway for sterol side chain cleavage in the metabolism of cholesterol.

Dr. David Green, Associate Professor of Applied Mathematics and Statistics introduced the fifth Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Richard Cummings, Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry, National Center for Functional Glycomics, Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Cummings’ lecture was entitled, “Genetic and Biochemical Insights into Roles of Glycoconjugates in Animal Biology and Disease”. Dr. Cummings presented how the use of both genetic and biochemical approaches has enabled him and his team to explore the roles of glycoconjugates in a variety of biological systems, including animal development and cancer, as well as innate and adaptive immune responses.

Dr. Miguel Garcia-Diaz, Associate Professor of Pharmacology introduced the sixth Plenary Lecturer, Dr. David Green, Associate Professor, Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Stony Brook University. Dr. Green’s presentation was entitled, “Rational Engineering of Anti-Viral Lectins Targeting HIV”. In his lecture, Dr. Green indicated that viral surfaces are able to avoid an immune response because their surfaces are heavily glycosylated. He indicated that his team’s understanding of the origins and affinities of a series of oligosaccharides is evolving and his team has developed computational models that explain the known differences in affinities for a series of oligosaccharides and provide insight into the mechanisms of multi-valent bonding.

lin Dr. Isaac Carrico, Associate Professor of Chemistry introduced the seventh Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Linda Hsieh-Wilson, Professor Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Pasadena, California. Dr. Hsieh-Wilson’s presentation was entitled, “The Sweeter Side of Cellular Signaling: Elucidating the Structure-Function Relationships of Carbohydrates in the Brain”. In her stimulating presentation, Dr. Hsieh-Wilson described the fundamental challenges in studying carbohydrates and the development of chemical approaches to overcome these challenges. She exemplified how the principles and tools of chemistry can be used to elucidate the roles of carbohydrates and their associated proteins in development and neuroregeneration.

Dr. Haltiwanger gave the closing remarks, thanking the Plenary Lecturers for their outstanding presentations as well as the Organizing Committee members for the successful planning and execution of the 7^th Annual ICB&DD Symposium.

There were 82 scientific papers presented at the Poster Session. The best two posters were selected for the Poster Awards. The award-winning posters this year were: Sajjad Hossain from the laboratory of Elizabeth Boon in Department of Chemistry and Julie-Ann Cavallo from Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Stony Brook School of Medicine.

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The 7^th ICB&DD Symposium culminated with a splendid dinner at the Chapel of the Charles B. Wang Center. Among other attendees were Dr. Benjamin Hsiao, Vice-President for Research, Dr. Nicole Sampson (Chair, Department of Chemistry), Maria Ryan (Chair, Department of Oral Biology and Pathology) and Dr. Michael Frohman (Chairman, Department of Pharmacological Sciences, SOM). They expressed their appreciation for the outstanding lectures presented at the Symposium. Equally, they acknowledged the high level of importance of ICB&DD collaborative efforts among academia and industry. They all congratulated Professor Ojima for his numerous contributions and successful leadership of the ICB&DD. The symposium was co-sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research, Office of the Provost, School of Medicine, Department of Chemistry, Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Forest Laboratories Inc. and Chem-Master International, Inc.

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ICB&DD welcomes Mr. Andreas G. Grill as new Advisory Board Member. Mr. Grill is the Executive Director for Pharmaceutical Research & Development at Forest Research Institute, a subsidiary of Forest Laboratories, Inc. Mr. Grill is an executive leader with over twenty years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He is company appointed Global Project Development Team Leader responsible for global drug development and executive direction from conception through marketing registration. As a corporate business development team member, Andreas is responsible for maintaining partner relationships and representing Forest Laboratories as member of multiple Joint Steering Committees with several major business partners (US and ex-US). Moreover, Mr. Grill has extensive experience with implementing and leading pharmaceutical research & development departments that include functional areas of biopharmaceutics, formulation development, analytical development, preformulation, bioanalytical & drug metabolism, regulatory CMC and project management. Mr. Grill has held scientific and leadership positions at Pfizer, Forest Laboratories and Forest Research Institute. Mr. Grill’s versatile experience encompasses the development of a broad range of pharmaceutical dosage forms which transverse multiple indications. This versatility contributes to an impressive negotiation record with several domestic and international development partners as well as multiple divisions of the Food and Drug Administration and various Health Authorities worldwide. Mr. Grill is responsible for contributing to a significant number of pharmaceutical drug product approvals within the United States and worldwide. The products within Mr. Grills impressive portfolio include Lexapro^®, Namenda^®, Campral^®, Combunox^®, Bystolic^®, Savella^®, Namenda XR^®, Teflaro^™, Daliresp^™ and Linzess^™. Mr. Grill is an appointed Member of the Bioscience Advisory Board for SUNY Farmingdale and an appointed Member of the Board of Directors for the Farmingdale College Foundation. In addition, Mr. Grill volunteers as an Advisor for the BioStrategy Sessions at SUNY Stony Brook – Center of Biotechnology. Mr. Grill holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the State University of New York at Stony Brook with graduate studies in Pharmacology/Toxicology at Saint John’s University and a Master of Business Administration from Dowling College.

2012 News

6^th ICB&DD Annual Symposium

(from left to right) Drs. Holger Sondermann, David Lawrence, Bonnie Bassler, Deborah Hung, Iwao Ojima, Elizabeth Boon, Jeffery Kelly and Todd Miller.

On Friday, October 12, 2012, The ICB&DD hosted its Sixth ICB&DD Annual Symposium, “Frontiers in Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery” at the Charles B. Wang Center at Stony Brook University. The symposium featured seven Plenary Lecturers. Two of them were from Stony Brook University. The event was very well attended by a wide range of audience from faculty, research staff and students on campus as well as universities and industries in the greater NY metropolitan area and Brookhaven National Laboratory. The Poster Session equally attracted a large participation of students from Stony Brook University, New York University, Columbia University, Chembio Diagnostic Systems Inc, and Brookhaven National Laboratory among others. There were 78 scientific abstracts presented at the Poster Session. ojima

Dr. Todd Miller, Professor and Chair of the Symposium Organizing Committee, opened the Symposium and introduced Dr. Iwao Ojima, Distinguished Professor and Director of ICB&DD. Dr. Ojima concisely summarized the history of accomplishments, current and future goals of the ICB&DD. Dr.Elizabeth Boon, Assistant Professor of Chemistry introduced the first Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Bonnie BasslerHoward Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and the Squibb Professor of Molecular Biology at Princeton University, Member of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Bassler gave a lecture entitled “Manipulating Quorum Sensing to Control Bacterial Pathogenecity” . She explained the focus of her research on understanding how cell-cell communication in bacteria involves the production, release and subsequent detection of chemical signaling molecules named autoinducers. A process called quorum sensing. Research is now targeted in the development of therapies that interfere with quorum sensing to control bacterial virulence. Dr. Daniel Raleigh, Professor of Chemistry introduced the second Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Jeffery Kelly, Chairman, Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, Department of Chemistry, the Scripps Research Institute. Dr. Kelly gave a lecture entitled “Biological and Chemical Approaches to Adapt Proteostasis to Ameliorate Protein Misfolding and Aggregation Diseases”. His presentation focused on how the proteostasis network can be adapted through unfolded protein response arm-selective signaling to alleviate several loss-of-function diseases where excessive symp photo compi misfolding and degradation leads to maladies like the lysosomal storage diseases. Dr. James Bliska,Professor of Microbiology, introduced the third Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Holger Sondermann, Dr. Sondermann gave a very stimulating lecture entitled “The ins and outs of c-di-GMP Signaling in Bacterial Biofilm Formation”. In his presentation, Dr. Sondermann focused on the molecular mechanisms that yield finely tuned signaling cascades controlling cell adhesion in several bacterial species. In addition, how in the long term, the results emerging from these studies could provide blueprints for the development of novel therapeutics against bacterial infections. Dr. Stanley Zucker, Professor of Medicine, introduced the fourth Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Basil Rigas, Professor of Medicine and Pharmacological Sciences. Chief, Divisions of Cancer Prevention and Gastroenterology, Dean for Clinical Affairs, Stony Brook University School of Medicine. Dr. Rigas gave a lecture entitled “Modified NSAIDs and Cancer”. He presented an overview of his research on cancer prevention and its emphasis on the development of novel anticancer agents. He discussed how epidemiological studies and interventional trials have established NSAIDs as efficacious chemopreventive agents against several human cancers. Their drawbacks are low efficacy and significant side effects. To overcome these limitations, he has developed a general approach through which targeted chemical modifications of NSAIDs enhance their efficacy and minimize their toxicity. Dr. Jessica Seeliger, Assistant Professor of Pharmacological Sciences introduced the fifth Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Deborah Hung, Physician Scientist, Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, and Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital; Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Harvard Medical School; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University. Dr. Hung’s lecture was entitled “Chemical Biological Approach to TB: Identifying New Drugs Targets”. Dr. Hung explained the focus of her research in how she is combining chemical biology and genomic approaches to define host-pathogen interactions and to reveal essential in vivo gene functions of pathogens to explore new paradigms for anti-infective intervention. By deploying small organic molecules and genome-wide tools to both perturb and understand bacterial infection, she is working to provide insight into new approaches to a variety of devastating pathogens, including Vibrio cholerae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

mike and nicole Dr. Peter Tonge, Professor of Chemistry introduced the sixth Plenary Lecturer, Dr. Elizabeth Boon, AssistantProfessor of Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University. Dr. Boon’s gave a lecture entitled “Nitric Oxide Signaling in Bacteria: Discovery of a new Mechanism for regulating Bacterial Group Behavior”. She described her studies on the importance of nitric oxide (NO) as biological signals and its signaling role in bacteria. NO has also been implicated in processes such as quorum sensing and biofilm formation. Biofilms are extremely resistant to antibiotic treatments and responsible for approximately 60 percent of all human infections. Dr. Todd Miller, Professor of Physiology and Biophysics introduced the seventh Plenary Lecturer, Dr. David Lawrence, Professor, Division of Medicinal Chemistry & Natural Products, School of Pharmacy & Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Lawrence presented a lecture entitled “Organic Chemistry at the Edge of Biology: Taming Cell Behavior with Light Responsive Molecules”. His very informative lecture provided a comprehensive view of the challenges associated with the design, synthesis, and use of light-responsive bioreagents, the scope and limitations associated with the instrumentation required for their applications, and a few recent examples used to scrutinize the secrets of cell signaling and behavior. Dr. Miller gave the closing remarks, thanking the Plenary Lecturers for their outstanding presentations as well as the Organizing Committee members for the successful planning and execution of the 6^th Annual ICB&DD Symposium.

There were 78 scientific abstracts at the Poster Session. The best two posters were selected for the Poster Awards. The award-winning posters this year were by Dr. Kanishk Kapilashrami from the laboratory of Dr. Peter Tonge, Department of Chemistry, Esam Al-Shareffi from the laboratory of Dr. Robert Haltiwanger, Department of Biochemistry and William J. Allen from the laboratory of Dr. Robert Rizzo, Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Stony Brook University.

winners poster

The 6^th ICB&DD Symposium culminated with a splendid dinner at the Chapel of the Charles B. Wang Center. Among other attendees were Dr. Nicole Sampson (Chairman, Department of Chemistry), Dr. Michael Frohman (Chairman, Department of Pharmacological Sciences, SOM) and Anil Duhndale (Executive Director of the Long Island High Technology Incubator (LIHTI) and Stony Brook University Business Incubators). They expressed their appreciation for the outstanding lectures presented at the Symposium. Equally, they acknowledged the high level of importance of ICB&DD collaborative efforts among academia and industry. They all congratulated Professor Ojima for his numerous contributions and successful leadership of the ICB&DD. The symposium was cosponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research, Office of the Provost, School of Medicine Office of Scientific Affairs, Department of Chemistry, Forest Laboratories Inc. and Chem-Master International, Inc.

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ICB&DD congratulates Dr. Iwao Ojima for being named as the recipient of the 2013 American Chemical Society (ACS) Award for Creative Work in Fluorine Chemistry! Dr. Ojima is cited “for his outstanding contributions to fluorine chemistry through his pioneering and creative research in synthetic methodology and biomedical applications.” Dr. Ojima’s research, a combination of both transition metal catalysis and medicinal chemistry, has had a profound impact on the fluorine chemistry at the biomedical interface. This is his third ACS National Award in addition to the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award (organic chemistry) in 1994 and the E. B. Hershberg Award (drug discovery and medicinal chemistry) in 2001, illuminating the exceptional breadth and excellence in his research. Dr. Ojima first introduced catalytic processes into organofluorine chemistry in the early 1980s, and developed highly-efficient methods for the practical synthesis of optically active fluoro-amino acids by means of catalysis and enzymatic resolution. His invention of a highly efficient process for the synthesis of 5-trifluoromethyluracil was commercialized for the production of trifluridine (antiviral drug). He developed successful fluorine-containing molecules for the treatment of high blood pressure and as pain killers. Most recently, he synthesized taxol derivatives containing fluorine as anticancer agents, probes of chemical and structural biology, and to enhance drug potency. Dr. Ojima will receive his award at the American Chemical Society Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, April 7-11, 2013, and will also present an award address at the Biennial Winter Fluorine Conference in St. Pete Beach, Florida, January 13-18, 2013.

http://commcgi.cc.stonybrook.edu/am2/publish/General_University_News_2/Two_Stony_Brook_University_Chemistry_Professors_Honored_With.shtml

ICB&DD has acquired a new mass spectrometer from Agilent Technologies for the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory. The new Agilent LC-UV-TOF was acquired in the summer of 2012. The instrument consists of a 1260 uPLC, a TOF mass analyzer and a UV-Vis diode-array detector (DAD). The DAD provides wavelength measurements from 190-800nm with a 20Hz acquisition rate. The mass spectrometer is a G6224A oaTOF model. It provides MS capabilities in the range m/z=100-20,000. It is typically operated in MS mode in the range m/z=100-3200 while maintaining a resolution of 20,000 at m/z= 1,522 and acquiring 20 spectra/sec with an accuracy of <2 ppm. The instrument has two possible ionization sources: 1) an ESI source and 2) a MultiMode source consisting of combined ESI and APCI ionization modes. Both sources have dual inlets allowing for internal reference mass calibration to achieve <2ppm mass accuracy. The instrument is used exclusively for accurate mass determination, formula verification (HRMS) and sample purity analysis for small molecules and biopolymers. The new Agilent LC-UV-TOF is located in Room 570 of the ICB&DD Analytical Chemistry Laboratory. The acquisition of this instrument was made possible by a generous research support from the Reata Pharmaceuticals to ICB&DD through Dr. Honda (Director, ICB&DD Anti-inflammatory Research Laboratory) and a matching fund from the SBU Office of the Vice-President for Research.

ICB&DD congratulates Dr. James Bliska for being elected Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. The American Academy of Microbiology is the honorific leadership group of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), the world’s oldest and largest life science organization. Academy Fellows are eminent leaders in the field of microbiology and are relied upon for authoritative advice and information on critical issues in microbiology. Fellows are elected through a highly selective peer review process based on their records of scientific achievement and original contributions that have advanced microbiology. Dr. Bliska, who joined the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology in 1993, investigates molecular mechanisms that underlie the pathogenesis of bacteria, particularly in regard to host-microbe cell interactions in the genus Yersinia. Discoveries in his laboratory have led to advances in the fields of bacterial pathogenesis and cell biology. Dr. Bliska pioneered work on a specialized bacterial toxin secretion mechanism that is now referred to in microbiology as type III secretion, a significant finding to help broaden the research field known as cellular microbiology. He invented an approach used to identify host cell targets of a bacterial toxin, a unique technological advancement widely adopted by other researchers. Dr. Bliska also discovered that host cells have innate immune mechanisms that can detect bacterial toxin secretion, a finding of general importance in the field of immunology. Dr. Bliska and other newly elected fellows nationwide were recognized at the annual ASM General Meeting in San Francisco, California on June 19, 2012

http://stonybrookmedicine.edu/newsroom/bliska

yusuf ICB&DD welcomes Dr.Yusuf Hannun as new Advisory Board Member. Dr. Hannun is the new Director of the Stony Brook Cancer Center and Vice Dean for Cancer Medicine, SOM SBU. Dr. Hannun is a renowned molecular biologist and physician-scientist who came to Stony Brook from the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) where he was Deputy Director of MUSC’s Hollings Cancer Center. Under Dr. Hannun’s leadership, the Hollings Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Cancer Center, was established at MUSC in 2009. Dr. Hannun’s research area of expertise focuses on investigating the molecular mechanisms of cancer, in particular, lipid mediators of cancer cell signaling. Dr. Hannun and colleagues discovered the signaling functions of these lipids and the vital roles they play in the cancer disease process, and cancer therapy, as well as in other areas of biomedicine such as neurobiology, inflammation, and metabolism. Dr. Hannun earned his M.D. degree with distinction in 1981 from the American University in Beirut, Lebanon. At the American University he completed an internship and residency in Internal Medicine. In 1986 he moved to the United States to serve a fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at Duke University. At Duke he rose to become the Wayne Rundles Professor of Oncology, the Director of the Program in Molecular Medicine, and Associate Director of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center. As the Director of the Stony Brook Cancer Center, Dr. Hannun will oversee a program that includes 12 site-specific, multidisciplinary disease management teams that are dedicated to diagnosing and treating patients with breast, colorectal, gastrointestinal, hematological, pediatric cancers, and all other types of cancers. He will also oversee research programs conducted within the School of Medicine that supports the disease management teams.

http://www.stonybrookmedicine.edu/newsroom/Hannun

huilin ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. Huilin Li as a new Project Member. Dr. Li is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Stony Brook University and has a joint appointment as a Biophysicist in the Biology Department of Brookhaven National Laboratory. The major goal of Dr. Li's research is to understand the function of biological macromolecules via structural analyses, primarily by cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo-EM). Cryo-EM is capable of revealing low to medium resolution structures of large protein complexes that are proven difficult for X-ray crystallography or NMR methods. Dr. Li’s other research interests include: Structural basis of eukaryotic DNA replication initiation,the M. tuberculosis proteasome pathway and structural biology of membrane protein assemblies. He received his Ph.D in Electron Crystallography from University of Sciences and Technology, Beijing, China in 1994, and performed his postdoctoral research at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (1994-1998) and was appointed as a Project Scientist there (1998-2002). He joined the Biology Department at Brookhaven National Laboratory in 2002, first as an Associate Biophysicist and was promoted to Biophysicist with tenure (2002-2010). Then, he joined Stony Brook University in 2010. Dr. Li will be an excellent addition to the Structural Biology Program and the Infectious Research Program as well as other ICB&DD activities.

anil ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Anilkumar Dhundale as new Advisory Board Member. Dr. Dhundale is the Executive Director of the Long Island High Technology Incubator (LIHTI) and Stony Brook University Business Incubators. He is also an Adjunct Professor of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at SBU. Dr. Dhundale earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Queens College of CUNY in 1970, and spent 12 years at North Shore-LIJ as a medical technologist and then supervising an Automated Clinical Chemistry Laboratory. He earned M.S. degree in Clinical Chemistry from C.W. Post of Long Island University in 1976 and Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from SBU in 1987. In 1987-1998, Dr. Dhundale was involved in the development of diagnostic and research products, and in multiple aspects of drug discovery and technology development atOSI Pharmaceuticals LLC. He served as the Director for Scientific Affairs at the Center for Biotechnolgy at SBU in 1998-2008. Dr. Dhundale’s research interests are in commercialization of technology, i.e.- translating research discoveries into useable commercial products. These products can be therapeutics to treat disease, diagnostics for identifying or classifying disease, or tools for researchers to use. But in addition, all technology based products include Information Technologies, Clean/ Alternative Energy, etc. In 2008, Dr. Dhundale was appointed as the Executive Director of LIHTI, manages the Stony Brook Technology Business Incubators Program, assisting academic researchers to start companies as well as mentoring established small technology businesses, all with a goal to translate discoveries into novel products and services. LIHTI’s ultimate goal for economic development is to create and retain high technology jobs and have positive economic impact in the Long Island region.

ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. Kenneth Dill as Advisory Board Member. Dr. Dill is the Director of the Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology at Stony Brook University and Professor of the Department dill of Physics and Astronomy as well as the Department of Chemistry. Dr. Dill is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a past president of the Biophysical Society. He is well known internationally for his pioneering work on the physical forces that give rise to the structures and properties of protein molecules. Dr. Dill came to Stony Brook University in 2010 and was named the founding Director of the Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology. The main goals of Dr. Dill’s research in the Laufer Center are (i) to better understand the physical principles of biology and study the physics of proteins, biological cells, and water; (ii) to develop methods in statistical physics and computational biology. Dr. Dill received his S.B, S.M. (1971) in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. (1978) in Biology from the University of California at San Diego and performed postdoctoral research (1981) in chemistry at Stanford University. Prior to his appointment at Stony Brook, he was at the University of California at San Francisco (1982-2010) where he rose to the rank of Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Biophysics and Associate Dean of Research in the School of Pharmacy

ICB&DD-Sanofi Collaboration on TB Drug Discovery and Development

From left to right: Dr. Peter Tonge, Provost Dennis Assanis, Deputy Vice-President for Research Nancy Daneau, Sanofi Associate Vice President, Head of Infectious Disease Research, Dr. Laurent Fraisse, Sanofi Medicinal Chemistry Partnership Manager, Infectious Disease Unit, Dr. Gilles Courtemanche, Distinguished Professor IwaoOjima, Office of Sponsored Programs Manager, Lydia Chabza and Sean Boykevisch, Licensing Associate, Office of Technology Licensing

sanofi

Stony Brook University and Sanofi have announced amulti-year research collaboration with an option to a world-wide license to compounds resulting from the ICB&DD Director, Dr. Ojima’s work on FtsZ inhibition as a potential treatment for Tuberculosis (TB) and other bacterial infections. TB is a lethal and highly contagious infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. TB is second only to HIV as the most deadly infectious disease. TB is transmitted through the air and may lay dormant in the body in a latent state. It is estimated that one third of the world’s population is infected with latent TB and approximately 12 million people suffer from active infection. Once active, TB is spread through the air by coughing and sneezing. TB is treated with a cocktail of antibiotics over the course of 6 months or more, making it a long, complicated and difficult to follow treatment regimen. Not adhering to the treatment course can lead to the development of multiple drug resistant TB (MDR-TB). Therefore, new drug targets and treatments are needed to shorten treatment times and improve reatment outcomes. Dr. Ojima and his team at ICB&DD have discovered novel compounds that inhibit bacterial cell division by interfering with a critical cellular protein called FtsZ. The FtsZ is responsible for forming a contractile ring within the bacteria that is essential for cell division. By interfering with FtsZ assembly, the bacteria are unable to maintain, divide and propagate. Dr. Ojima’s team at ICB&DD will work with Sanofi to optimize these novel benzimidazole-based compounds with the objective to identify drug candidates ready for translational drug development. ICB&DD is very excited to work with Sanofi, a world leading pharmaceutical industry, including therapeutics for TB and other infectious diseases. This collaboration demonstrates ICB&DD’s innovative approach to finding solutions to unmet medical needs.

Stony Brook University Press Release

Long Island Business News

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yang ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Vincent Yang as a member and Steering Committee member. Dr. Yang is the Chairman of the Department of Medicine in the Stony Brook University School of Medicine. Dr. Yang is a nationally recognized physician-scientist specializing in gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. Dr. Yang’s research interests focus on understanding the molecular mechanisms that control proliferation and differentiation of intestinal epithelial cells and how these processes are perturbed in gastrointestinal malignancies. His clinical interest is focused on hereditary colon cancer syndromes and he works closely with national organizations including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to establish genetic epidemiology of such diseases. Dr. Yang received his Ph.D. Degree in Biochemical Sciences from Princeton University and his Medical Degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Dr. Yang then served as an Intern and Resident in Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he also completed a Fellowship in Gastroenterology, after which he joined the Hopkins faculty, rising to become Associate Professor of Medicine and Biological Chemistry. He then moved, 10 years ago, to Emory University, where he rose to Professor and was appointed as head of the Division of Digestive Diseases. Under his tenure, he recruited 30 new faculty members and an equal number of research staff to the division, including six physician-scientists. Grant funding to the division included over 20 NIH and VA grants and 10 ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) awards. Dr. Yang significantly enhanced the academic reputation of the Division of Digestive Disease at Emory. He assumed his current position as the Chair of the Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Stony Brook University in September 2011. Dr. Yang has been elected to the two most prestigious honor societies devoted to clinical investigation in the U.S., the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. A recipient of numerous awards, he was one of the first to receive the Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Cancer Clinician Scientist Award in 2001. Previously, he received a Sandoz Clinician Scientist Award from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the American Gastroenterology Association/Sandoz Research Scholar Award and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Distinguished Alumni Award. Dr. Yang will be an outstanding addition to the Cancer Research Program and other ICB&DD activities.

ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Agnieszka Bialkowska as a Project Member. Dr. Bialkowska is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Stony Brook University. Dr. Bialkowska’s major research interest is on the agnie mechanisms of the development and progression of colorectal cancer. Her work focuses on transcription factor Krüppel-like Factor 5 (KLF5), which has been shown to be involved in both processes. Additionally, in cooperation with Scripps Research Institute of Molecular Screening Center (SRIMSC), she utilizes the high-throughput screen method to discover and identify small molecular compounds that modulate activity of KLF5 and impact colon cancer cell proliferation. She is currently collaborating in a study to resolve the role of KLF5 in inflammation. She received her Ph.D. (2003) in Biochemistry from the Polish Academy of Sciences. Previous to joining the Department of Medicine at Stony Brook, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in gene therapy in the Gene Therapy Program at Louisiana State University. She also performed postdoctoral research at Emory University School of Medicine, Division of Digestive Diseases under the mentorship of Dr. Vincent Yang. Dr. Bialkowska will be an excellent addition to the Cancer Research Program and other ICB&DD activities.

2011 News

eboon CB&DD congratulates Dr. Elizabeth Boon for being selected as a Kavli Fellow. Kavli Fellows are selected by the advisory board of the Kavli Foundation, members of the National Academy of Sciences and organizers of the Kavli/National Academy of Sciences Frontiers in Science Symposia series. Through a highly competitive process, the Kavli Foundation recognizes individuals who have made preeminent contributions to science. Dr. Boon presented her research at the US Kavli Frontiers of Science Symposia. The symposium was held on November 17 at theArnold andMabelBeckmanCenter of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering inIrvine,California. Beginning in 1989, the Frontiers of Science symposium series has provided a forum for the future leaders in U.S. science to share ideas across disciplines and to build contacts and networks that will prove useful as they advance in their careers. More than 4,500 young scientists have attended to date, 136 of whom have been elected to the NAS and eight of whom have been awarded the Nobel Prize. http://nasonline.org/programs/kavli-frontiers-of-science/

5^th Annual ICB&DD Symposium

"Frontiers in Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery"

The ICB&DD is pleased to announce the 5^th ICB&DD Annual Symposium on "Frontiers in Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery" which will be held at the Charles B. Wang Center on Friday October 14, 2011 (9:30am – 6:30PM; Reception 5:20-6:30PM). The ICB&DD Annual Symposium is thematically focused on areas of research interest in drug discovery, chemical and computational biology, cancer and infectious diseases. The Symposium invites renowned scholars as well as highly-recognized researchers of Stony Brook University (SBU) in chemical biology and drug discovery to convey their most advanced accomplishments and exchange innovative ideas in biomedical research among speakers, faculty, staff, and students on campus as well as researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory and industries in the greater NY metropolitan area.

The Plenary Lecturers this year are:

Dr. Johanna Fowler (Director of Biological Imaging, Medical Dept, Brookhaven National Laboratory)Dr. Stephen V. Frye (Director, Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, University of North Carolina), Dr. John Gerlt (Gutgsell Chair, Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, Depts of Biochemistry and Chemistry,University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Dr. Deborah Hung (Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, and Dept of Molecular Biology, Mass General Hospital; Dept of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Harvard Medical School; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University), Dr. Kenneth Kaushansky (DeanSchool of Medicine and Senior Vice-President of Health Sciences, Stony Brook University), Dr. Russell Petter (Vice-President Drug Discovery, Avila Therapeutics), Dr. Celia Schiffer (Co-Director Institute of Drug Resistance, Dept of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School) and Dr. Carlos Simmerling (Associate Director, Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology, Dept of Chemistry, Stony Brook University). There will be Poster sessions on recently completed and on-going projects conducted in the ICB&DD member's laboratories as well as relevant research laboratories in the area. We are looking forward to another stimulating and productive symposium!

jonathan rudick ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. Jonathan Rudick as a new Project Member. Dr. Rudick is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry. The major aims of Dr. Rudick's research is to create nanostructures whose functions arise through precise three-dimensional structure. His approach relies on both chemical synthesis and self-assembly. Rigorous characterization of both structure and function are used to inform future design of macromolecules and supramolecular assemblies to meet challenges in nanoscience, biotechnology, and chemical biology. Dr. Rudick received his Ph.D in Chemistry (2005) from University of Penssylvania (Advisor, Dr. William F. DeGrado). He was also the recipient of a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Research Service Award, National Institutes of Health (2007 – 2010). He worked as a Scientist at Procter & Gamble (2005-2007). Dr. Rudick will be an excellent addition to cancer and infectious diseases research programs, as well as chemical biology training program.

ICB&DD is pleased to announce that 5 recipients of the 2010/2011 TRO Awards from Stony Brook School of Medicine are members of ICB&DD, as listed below:

*Nicole Sampson, Ph.D., Professor, and Kathlyn Parker, Professor, Department of Chemistry. “Mt1-MMP-drug conjugates to treat invasive breast cancer”. (Carol M. Baldwin Award).
*Emily Chen Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Kenneth Shroyer, MD., Professor and Chair, Department of Pathology and Wei Zhu, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics. “Using Metastatic Breast Cancer Stem Cells to Predict the Risk of Recurrence and Metastasis in Breast Cancer Patients”. (Carol M. Baldwin Award).
*Dale Deutsch, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Iwao Ojima, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor, Department of Chemistry and *Huilin Li, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry. "Development of Endocannabinoid transport Inhibitors”. (FUSION Award).
*Jessica C. Seeliger, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Peter Tonge, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Chemistry. “Chemical Tools to Explore Drug Targets in M. Tuberculosis. (FUSION Award).
*Robert Rizzo, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics. “Targeted Molecular Design of Dual Kinase Inhibitors for Breast Cancer”. (Walk for Beauty Award).
ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. Angelo H. Gunasekera as a Project Member. Dr. Gunasekera is the Director of research and development at Chembio Diagnostics INC. Dr.Angelo Gunasekera’s group focuses on the development of point-of-care (POC) diagnostic assays for human diseases using the patented Dual Path Platform (DPP^TM) and other state-of-the art diagnostic assays. Dr. Gunasekera has more than 17 years of experience as a protein engineer in industry and academia. He received his BSc (Honors) degree from the Chemistry department at University of Colombo in Sri Lanka and a PhD in Chemical Biology from Rutgers (New Brunswick, NJ). He completed his post-doctoral training at Princeton University and the University of California mastering in antibody engineering. He joined Abbott Laboratories as a bench scientist in 1995 and became the group leader in Cancer exploratory group in the pharmaceutical product division. At Abbott, he developed a new high-throughput cloning and expression system for expressing multiple drug targets in E.coli and baculoviral expression system and became an expert in protein expression and purification of drug targets and antibody therapeutic targets in multiple organisms (E.coli, pichia/yeast, baculovirus and mammalian systems). In 2005 he joined OSI Pharmaceuticals and oversaw the protein biochemistry department supporting high-throughput screening for cancer discovery. In 2010 he joined Chembio diagnostics as the director of research and development. Dr. Angelo Gunasekera will be an excellent addition to ICB&DD, especially for its Structural Biology Program, Infectious Diseases Program as well as Cancer Research Programs.

garcia ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. Miguel Garcia Diaz as a Project Member. Dr. Garcia Diaz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacological Sciences, SBU School of Medicine. Dr. Garcia Diaz’s laboratory utilizes a combination of structural (mainly x-ray crystallography), biochemical and genetic approaches to understand the molecular details of different nucleic acid processing pathways. This information is then used to characterize how these pathways are affected by DNA damage and other environmental exposures, and ultimately to understand how alterations in normal nucleic acid biology can result in human disease. Dr. Garcia Diaz received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry (2003) from University Autonoma, Mardrid, Spain. Previous to joining the department of Pharmacological Sciences (2007), he performed postdoctoral research at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (2003-2007). Dr. Garcia Diazwill be an excellent addition to ICB&DD, especially for its Structural Biology Program.

ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. Jessica Seeliger as a Project Member. Dr. Seeliger is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacological Sciences, SBU School of Medicine. The human pathogen M. tuberculosis generates many structurally complex and unusual lipids that have received little molecular-level scrutiny in the membrane context. Her laboratory is pursuing two major questions that address these issues in M. tuberculosis and other bacteria: How are bacterial lipid membranes synthesized and assembled? How do unique bacterial lipids affect membrane properties? Her goal is to understand how bacterial pathogens exploit membrane structure and composition to interact with and subvert the host environment. Dr. Seeliger received her Ph.D. from Stanford University (2007) and completed her postdoctoral training at UC, Berkley (2010) before joining the Department of Pharmacological Sciences at Stony Brook. She will be an excellent addition to the Infectious Diseases Research Program, especially on TB drug discovery.

haojie ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. Haojie Huang as a Project Member. Dr. Huang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology, SBU School of Medicine. The research focus of Dr. Huang’s lab is to characterize the normal functions of biologically important transcription factors (e.g. forkhead box O (FOXO), androgen receptor (AR), Klf4, Sox2 and Oct3/4) and cofactors (e.g. CBP and p300) as well as chromatin regulators (e.g. Polycomb group (PcG) protein EZH2) and to understand how the potent functions of these factors are regulated under physiological and pathological conditions by various mechanisms, including protein phosphorylation, acetylation, ubiquitination, and protein-protein interaction. His research group is also interested in determining what roles the regulation and function of these factors may play in the determination of cell fates, such as self-renewal or differentiation of embryonic stem cells (ESC) and cancer stem cells (CSC), cell transformation and malignancy. Dr. Huang’s laboratory currently use both cell culture and mouse models to investigate the functions of these factors in development and progression of cancer (particularly in the prostate), epigenetic programming/reprogramming, and induction of pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Before joining the Department of Pathology (2010), Dr. Huang was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the University of Minnesota, where he built a major federally-funded research program that is focused on the molecular pathogenesis of prostate cancer metastases to bone. Dr. Huang will be an excellent addition to ICB&DD Cancer Research Program.

deutsch ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. Dale Deutsch as a Project Member. Dr. Deutsch is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology. Dr. Deutsch’s research focuses on the metabolism of the endocannabinoids, anandamide and 2-AG. Anandamide and 2-AG are endogenous compound that binds to the cannabinoid receptor as does THC, the active component of marijuana. Anandamide and 2-AG are very important neurotransmitter since they affects mood, memory, pain, appetite, response to stress, and many other physiological processes. He described the enzyme in the brain that hydrolyzes anandamide in 1993. It is now called FAAH, an abbreviation for the fatty acid amide hydrolase. Over the years Dr. Deutsch has undertaken basic research to understand how FAAH works to regulate anandamide levels. With the long-term goal of developing drugs to regulate the endocannabinoids, he is studying the mechanism by which anandamide is inactivated. Dr. Deutsch will be an excellent addition to ICB&DD for expanding its research areas to “Pain Control/management”.

2010 News

$2.7M Phase II STTR/SBIR award from NCI to develop a new anticancer agent

Congratulations Dr. Iwao Ojima (Director, ICB&DD; Project Leader) and Dr. Ramesh Gupta (Vice President, ChemMaster International, Inc.; PI) on receiving a Phase II STTR/SBIR award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for the project entitled “Preclinical studies on Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid-Taxoid Conjugate for IND Filing” The NCI scored this Phase II STTR/SBIR proposal outstanding and awarded $2.7M for two years.

The aim of this STTR/SBIR Phase II project is to advance a new tumor-targeting chemotherapeutic agent, PUFA-Taxoid (invented by Dr. Ojima), to treat a variety of human tumors associated with pancreatic, colon, breast, and lung cancers as well as to perform preclinical toxicology studies required for IDN filing and FDA approval for clinical studies. Thus, the key technical objectives in the Phase II studies are (i) further expansion of the current in vivo studies on tumors that are refractory to the currently used anticancer agents; (ii) Pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) studies including half-life, distribution, metabolism and maximum tolerated dose, as well as all other preclinical toxicology studies necessary for IND filing; (iii) optimization of the preparative methods in 200g scale for the reliable production of PUFA-Taxoid in GMP and the development of validation methods for the various intermediates in the synthetic sequence.

Currently there are no really effective drugs that can abolish human colon and pancreatic cancers because of the overexpression of MDR phenotypes as well as other drug resistance mechanisms involved in these cancers. Remarkably PUFA-Taxoid (omega-3 fatty acid–taxoid conjugate) can penetrate into these tumors selectively and bypass the MDR and other drug-resistance apparatuses, thereafter inducing cancer cell death. The development of PUFA-Taxoid for a possible efficacious treatment of colon, pancreatic, lung, breast and other forms of cancer would benefit increasing number of these cancer patients.

This STTR/SBIR project involves ChemMaster International, Inc. (Dr. Francis Johnson, President) and ICB&DD as well as two contract research organizations (CROs). The ICB&DD team includes Dr. Ojima, Thomas Zimmerman (Director, DLAR, SOM), Peter Tonge (Director, Experimental Therapeutics Laboratory, SOM and Chemistry), and Stanley Zucker (Medicine).

ojima ramesh francis tom pete stan

ICB&DD congratulates Dr. Balaji Sitharaman, for receiving a Director’s New Innovator Award from the National Institutes balu of Health. This award is given only to a select group of early-career biomedical researchers nationwide, which includes a 5-year $1.5 million grant. Dr. Sitharaman is engineering a nanotechnology-based theranostic (integrating therapeutic and diagnostic) technology for combined non-invasive imaging and targeted treatment of bone loss, a major health problem worldwide due to trauma, disease, and aging, including menopause. The NIH Director’s New Innovative Award was created as part of the NIH’s commitment to increasing opportunities for new scientists who are exceptionally creative and propose highly innovative research projects. Congratulations Dr. Sitharaman.

ICB&DD welcomes Dr. William J. Greenlee to its Advisory Board. Dr. Greenlee received his Ph.D. degree from Harvard University (R. B. Woodward) in 1976 and was an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University (G. Stork) in 1976-1977. He joined Merck Research Laboratories in 1977 as a member of the New Lead Discovery department where he became part of the Merck team that discovered potent inhibitors of angiotensin-converting enzyme, including enalapril (Vasotec™) and lisinopril (Prinivil™). He and his group worked on angiotensin II receptor antagonists, renin inhibitors, endothelin receptor antagonists and other cardiovascular projects. He was promoted to Director in 1989 and to Senior Director in 1992. In 1995, he joined the Schering Plough Research Institute (SPRI) as Senior Director for Cardiovascular and CNS Chemical Research, and then promoted to Vice President, CNS and Cardiovascular / Metabolic Chemistry in 2002. After the merger with Merck Research Laboratory in 2009, he assumed Vice President Chemistry and Chemistry Site Head, Kenilworth, N.J. Currently, he is responsible for the Chemical Research in Kenilworth (232 chemists) in support of six Merck franchise areas: Cardiovascular, Diabetes/Obesity, Neurosciences, Infectious Diseases, Oncology and BRID (Bone, Respiratory, Immunology, Dermatology). He received the Alfred Burger Award in Medicinal Chemistry in 2004 and was inducted into the Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame in 2006. He was elected to a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2007 and to a Fellow of the American Chemical Society in 2009. He has served as Chair for both the Medicinal (2003) and Organic (2004) Divisions of the American Chemical Society. He is the Perspectives Editor for the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.He has authored more than 180 research publications and holds over 70 U.S. patents. He was a Distinguished Speaker at the 3rd ICB&DD Annual Symposium in 2009.

ICB&DD congratulates Dr. Maria Ryan, the receipient of a "Victress" Award in Health for the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic modalities for the management of periodontal disease. The Victress Award is an international award that recognized her work in advancing women’s health care by focusing her research efforts on the development of risk assessment strategies and biochemical testing for early identification of periodontal disease. The Victress Initiative is a non-profit organization that aims to increase the percentage of women in leading positions and to promote leadership by presenting modern role models, innovative solutions for companies and inspiring young women on their way to the top. Victress was founded in 2005 by men and women who combine their individual strengths and networks to promote Victress and its mission. The Victress Award in Health was created to honor a scientist or doctor who is researching or developing in a field that is gender specific or who provides a breakthrough for women’s health. The winner also serves as a role model for young women who want to follow a similar career path. The award recognizes that women have different medical needs, sometimes show different symptoms or respond differently to medication, and is meant to promote some of the brilliant women in science who are usually not as visible as their male colleagues. Dr. Ryan was presented with the first ever Victress Award in Health at an August gala attended by 750 people in a historic Berlin theater in Berlin, Germany. Congratulations Dr. Maria Ryan.

ICB&DD announces its newly established Strategic Research Laboratories, (a) Anti-Inflammatory Research Laboratory and (b) Cancer Stem Cell Research Laboratory.

The Anti-Inflammatory Laboratory is directed by Dr. Tadashi Honda, Senior Research Scientist at ICB&DD. He is an established medicinal chemist who recently joined ICB&DD from Dartmouth College. The aim of this Laboratory is to develop new anti-inflammatory and cytoprotective agents through rational drug design and/or empirical methodology and exploring the new chemistry that is derived from their syntheses and modifications. Galina Botchkina

The Cancer Stem Cell Research Laboratory is directed by Dr. Galina Botchkina, Research Associate Professor,Department of Pathology, SOM. The current research in this Laboratory is focused on studying the prostate and colon tumor-initiating cancer stem cells (CSCs), their biological characteristics and CSC-targeted anti-cancer drug development. Another direction is mathematic modeling of the stem cell proliferation and responses to drugs in collaboration with the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Applied Biomathematics, Inc.

ICB&DD Congratulates Professor Iwao Ojima for being elected to the 2010 class of Fellows of the American Chemical Society (ACS). The ACS Fellows Program recognizes and honors members of the American Chemical Society for their outstanding achievements in and contributions to the science, the profession, and service to the Society. To be selected as an ACS Fellow, a member must have demonstrated contributions in these two defined areas: (i) Excellence in Science/Profession; and (ii) Outstanding Service to the American Chemical society. The 2010 ACS Fellows will be honored at a special ceremony during the ACS National Meeting in Boston on Monday, August 23, 2010. Congratulations Professor Iwao Ojima.

ICB&DD congratulates Drs. Nicole Sampson (PI) and Peter Tonge (Co-PI), for receiving a T32 National Research Service Award (NRSA) Institutional Predoctoral Training Grant Program entitled: “SBU Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Program”. It is a five-year program funded by the National Institutes of Health. This interdisciplinary and interdepartmental Program offers chemical biology training opportunities for PhD students selected from four participating units: Biochemistry & Structural Biology, Chemistry, Molecular Genetics & Microbiology and Molecular & Cellular Pharmacology graduate programs. The program has 29 participating faculty mentors with research interests in infectious diseases, cancer and toxicology, immunology, developmental biology, energy-harvesting, cell-signaling, organic synthesis, physical organic chemistry, enzymology and materials chemistry. The program provides research training in the principles and techniques of both chemistry and biology in order to perform biomedical research as well as educating trainees on how best to disseminate their results in order to improve public understanding of scientific research. The training program will provide well-prepared researchers for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. Congratulations Dr. Nicole Sampson. For further information about the SBU Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Program, please see http://www.chem.sunysb.edu/chembio/

ICB&DD congratulates Dr. Peter Tonge for his research recently cited in Chemical Engineering News and The Medical News in an article entitled: "Stick-To-Itiveness Underemphasized In Drug Design". See link below. Congratulations Dr. Tonge!

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/email/html/8818scic2.html

http://www.news-medical.net/news/20100426/Enhancing-residence-time-improves-drug-effectivity-Study.aspx

ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. John Haley as Advisory Board Member. Dr. Haley has thirty years of experience in biochemical research in the fields of endocrinology, oncology, signal transduction and pharmacology, in which he has published over 50 manuscripts. Dr. Haley obtained B.Sc. cum laude in Chemistry from Tufts University, Medford, MA and a Ph. D. in Molecular Endocrinology from the Howard Florey Institute for Experimental Physiology and Medicine, Melbourne University, Australia. He served as a Research Fellow at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (London) and at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (London). He currently holds the position of Senior Research Director, Translational Research at OSI Pharmaceuticals, and his group is focused on drug target pathway identification, validation and biomarker discovery through a scientific understanding of epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cancer recurrence. proliferation, apoptosis and angiogenesis using the science of epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

ICB&DD Receives $1.4 M Grant from DOD (DTRA) on Botulinum Neurotoxin Inhibitors

Congratulations the ICB&DD team, consisting of Drs. Subramanyan Swaminathan (PI) BNL Department of Biology, Iwao Ojima (Co-PI), Peter Tonge (Co-I) SBU Department of Chemistry, Robert Rizzo (Co-I) SBU Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics on receiving a research consortium grant award from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA, DOD). This grant award is for the project entitled “Structure-Based Discovery of Pan-Active Botulinum Neurotoxin Inhibitors”. Clostridium botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are the most potent toxins known to humans and are considered to be potential biowarfare agents. As a consequence, CDC has classified these neurotoxins as Category A priority pathogens. Currently the only treatment for botulism is antibody based which will not be effective once the toxin enters the cell. Thus, there is a compelling need to develop novel chemotherapeutics against these neurotoxins. This multi-disciplinary drug discovery project includes, (1) Structure determination of enzyme-inhibitor complexes; (2) Virtual screening using DOCK or AUTODOCK to identify small molecules, transition state analogs or peptidomimics of substrate peptides that can be accommodated in the active site of multiple serotypes; (3) Synthesis of novel compounds and further modifications required for a broad spectrum of BoNTs, and (4) Enzymology and SAR for additional compound design. This exploratory grant award ($1.4 M) is for two years, which can be expanded to a larger project grant, and the first research consortium grant that ICB&DD has received with BNL. http://commcgi.cc.stonybrook.edu/am2/publish/General_University_News_2/Stony_Brook_University-Bnl_Research_Team_Receives_DOD_Grant_To_Develop_Botulism_Antidote.shtml

4th ICB&DD Annual Symposium

"Drugs, Biologics, Devices, and the FDA”

The ICB&DD is pleased to announce the 4rd ICB&DD Annual Symposium on "Drugs, Biologics, Devices, and the FDA” which will be held at the Charles B. Wang Center on Thursday, October 14, 2010 (9:30am – 6:30PM; Reception 5:20-6:30PM). The ICB&DD Annual Symposium is thematically focused in areas of research interest in drug discovery, chemical and computational biology, cancer and infectious diseases. The Symposium invites renowned scholars as well as highly-recognized researchers of Stony Brook University (SBU) to convey their most advanced accomplishments and exchange innovative ideas in biomedical research among speakers, faculty, staff, and students on campus as well as researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory and industries in greater NY metropolitan area. The Plenary Lecturers this year are: Dr. Barbara Imperiali (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Dr. Harvey Arbit (University of Minnesota), Dr. Jeffrey Pessin (Albert Einstein College of Medicine), Dr. Glenn Prestwich (University of Utah), Dr. Francisco Villarreal (University of California at San Diego), Invited Lecturers are: Dr. Lorne Golub (SBU, Oral Biology and Pathology), Dr. Lawrence Hurst (SBU, Orthopedics) and Dr. Peter Tonge (SBU, Chemistry). There will be Poster sessions on recently completed and on-going projects conducted in the ICB&DD member's laboratories as well as relevant research laboratories in the area. Once again, we are looking forward to another stimulating and productive symposium!

2009 News

ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. Markus Seeliger as a Project Member. Dr. Seeliger is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacological Sciences, SBU School of Medicine. Dr. Seeliger’s current focus is on the structure and dynamics of protein kinases (e.g., Src and Abl) relevant to the drug-kinase interactions (e.g., Gleevec with BCR-Abl) based on NMR in addition to protein X-ray structural analysis. Dr. Seeliger will be an excellent addition to ICB&DD, especially for its Structural Biology and Cancer Research Programs.

vern schramm ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. Vern Shramm as Advisory Board Member. Dr. Schramm is a Professor and Ruth Merns Chair of Biochemistry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Schramm has been a member of the Einstein faculty since 1987. Throughout his career, he has carried out groundbreaking research into the mechanisms involved in enzymatic reactions. His work has led to promising drugs now being tested in clinical trials for treating autoimmune diseases and several types of cancer. One such inhibitor that Dr. Schramm designed, known as Immucillin-H, is a promising anticancer agent for treating T-cell malignancies and it is currently in a pivotal phase IIb clinical trial (specifically targeted to study efficacy) at sites in the U.S., Eastern and Western Europe, and South America. Another transition-state inhibitor developed by Dr. Schramm is now being studied as a possible treatment for autoimmune diseases such as psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disorders and for preventing the rejection of transplanted organs. Dr. Schramm has contributed more than 35 years as a biochemist, researcher and teacher.

ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. Jorge Benach as Advisory Board Member. Dr. Benach is a Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, SBU School of Medicine, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. He is also the Director of the Center for Infectious Diseases. He has been faculty at Stony Brook University for 30 years. Dr. Benach is the co-discoverer of the Lyme disease spirochete as he brought recognition to the School of Medicine in 1984 when he made the landmark discovery of the organism that causes Lyme disease. Recently, Dr Benach and his colleagues have begun to investigate organisms that could be used for bioterrorism attacks. He is the Principal Investigator of a Project Program Grant (PPG) on the class A pathogens from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, NIH). This PPG started in 2004 and $23 M in total to date. Dr. Benach is a Fulbright Scholar and a member of the Advisory Allergy and Infectious Diseases Council of NIH.

ICB&DD Members received "Distinguished Faculty Inventor" recognition

Congratulations Drs. Wen-Tien Chen and Iwao Ojima for being recognized among the 12 "Distinguished Faculty Inventors" at the STAR Center Grant Opening Ceremony at the Wang Center this past September. Dr. Chen’s and his team developed a blood test technology (Vita-AssaysTM and Vita-CapTM) that could be the diagnostic tool that allows earlier disease diagnosis and also helps oncologist assess the efficacy of cancer therapies during treatment. Dr. Chen and his team have also developed and patented several therapeutic monoclonal antibodies for anticancer therapy. Dr. Ojima’s research has focused on developing second-generation, more effective derivative of taxol and novel delivery systems. He has 150 patents and patent applications. Two of his inventions have already been licensed to Sanofi-Aventis and Indena Pharmaceuticals.

ICB&DD is pleased to announce that 4 recipients of the 2009 TRO Awards from Stony Brook School of Medicine are members of ICB&DD as listed below:

*Jian Cao, M.D., Research Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Nicole Sampson, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Chemistry. “Targeting Metastatic Breast Cancer Stem Cell Invasion"
*Wei-Xing Zong, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology. “Study of SCCA1 as a Novel Cell Death Regulator in Breast Cancer"
*Peter Tonge, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Chemistry, Roy Steigbigel, M.D., Professor, Department of Medicine, Jacob Hooker, Ph.D, Scientist and Joanna Fowler, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Medical Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory. "Imaging Bacteria in Humans using Positron Emission Tomography"
*Kenneth Shroyer, M.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Pathology and Emily Chen, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology. “Identifying Biomarkers for Pre-malignant and Invasive Cervical Cancer”.

3rd ICB&DD Annual Symposium
“Frontiers in Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery”

The ICB&DD is pleased to announce the 3rd ICB&DD Annual Symposiumon "Frontiers in Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery" which will be held at the Charles B. Wang Center on Tuesday, October 6, 2009 (9:30am – 6:30PM; Reception 5:20-6:30PM). The ICB&DD Annual Symposium is thematically focused in areas of research interest in drug discovery, chemical and computational biology, cancer and infectious diseases. The Symposium invites renowned scholars as well as highly-recognized researchers of Stony Brook University (SBU) to convey their most advanced accomplishments and exchange innovative ideas in biomedical research among speakers, faculty, staff, and students on campus as well as researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory and industries in greater NY metropolitan area. The Plenary Lecturers this year are: Dr. Stewart L. Fisher (AstraZeneca R&D Boston)Dr. William J. Greenlee (Schering-Plough Research Institute), Dr. John T. Koh (University of Delaware), Dr. Philip S. Low (Purdue University), Dr. Charles N. Serhan (Harvard University). Invited Lecturers are: James Bliska (SBU), Dr. Robert Haltiwanger (SBU) and Daniel Raleigh (SBU). There will be Poster sessions on recently completed and on-going projects conducted in the ICB&DD member's laboratories as well as relevant research laboratories in the area. Once again, we are looking forward to another stimulating and productive symposium! Registration form.

ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. Emily Chenas a Project Member. Dr. Chen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Stony Brook University School of Medicine. Dr. Chen’s area of research expertise is Breast Cancer Metastasis & Shotgun Proteomics. Her research focuses on understanding the pathogenesis of breast cancer metastasis by identifying relevant proteins that are involved in organ specificity. She believes that protein expression profiles in breast cancer cells capable of organ-specific metastasis can be used to distinguish organ specificity among breast cancer cells, and that the differentially regulated proteins contribute to colonization of or survival within the individual target tissues. She will become a valuable member of the ICB&DD Cancer Research Program.

ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. Paul Binghamas a Member. Dr. Bingham is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Stony Brook University School of Medicine. He is a world renowned molecular biologist who has made important contributions in molecular biology including the discovery, as part of a collaborative team, of the parasitic DNA sequence element, the P element transposon. A crucial discovery that allowed biologists to probe how genes build animals by enabling a widely used strategy still used today for retrieving genes from animals. He also serves as Vice President for CornerStone Pharmaceuticals, a firm developing cancer therapies. Dr. Bingham’s research resulted in the development of the lead product from a new class of agents called Altered Energy Metabolism (AEMD). These compounds target the energy metabolism of cancer cells. AEMD has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for evaluation in Phase I/II clinical trials to treat cancer. Dr. Bingham’s expertise in cancer biology will be greatly beneficial for the ICB&DD Cancer Research Program.

2008 News

tim kinsella ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. Timothy Kinsella as Advisory Board Member. Dr. Kinsella is the new Director of the Stony Brook University (SBU) Cancer Center. He came to Stony Brook from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was Chair of Radiation Oncology. He has 30 years of experience in treating cancer patients, conducting cancer research in cancer biology, including the molecular targets of some cancers and the genetic bases of cancers. He has successfully led various university-based cancer programs. He also currently serves as a Member of the Board of Scientific Advisors of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Under his leadership the Stony Brook University Cancer Center,will focus on four major research areas: DNA damage and repair, the role of cancer stem cells, cancer genetics, and developing new cancer treatments. Dr. Kinsella will lead the SBU Cancer Center to continue and expand cancer treatment and research programs, clinical trials, and community outreach with the ultimate goal of establishing the SB Cancer Center as a NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center.

w chen ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. Wen-Tien Chenas a Member. Dr. Chen is a Professor of Medicine/ Division of Neoplastic Diseases and Director, Metastasis Research Laboratory, Stony Brook University Cancer Center. He is also the founder of Vitatex Inc., a Long Island High Tech Incubator (LIHTI) company at Stony Brook. Wen-Tien Chen is a cell biologist whose research focuses on the control of cancer metastasis. His laboratory has developed a functional cell separation method based on invadopodial activity for the isolation of viable circulating tumor cells from blood samples of experimental animals and cancer patients. His extensive experience and expertise in cancer research will be greatly beneficial for the ICB&DD Cancer Research Program.

j ju ICB&DD would like to welcomeDr. Jingfang Juas a Project Member. Dr. Ju is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology and Co-Director of the Translational Research Laboratory at Stony Brook University Medical Center. Dr. Ju’s area of research expertise is in cancer genomics and cancer biomarker discoveries. He uses integrated technology to identify cancer biomarkers and develop them into clinical diagnostics as well as novel anticancer therapeutics. In particular colorectal cancer, osteosarcoma and melanoma. Dr. Ju’s cutting-edge research in cancer genomics and biomarker discoveries adds another level of expertise in an effort to expand the development of therapeutics and diagnostics in cancer research. He will become a valuable member of the ICB&DD Cancer Research Program.

ICB&DD is pleased to announce that 4 recipients of the 2008 TRO Awards from Stony Brook School of Medicine are members of ICB&DD as listed below:

*Balaji Sitharaman, Ph.D. (PI) Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, "Multifunctional Carbon Nanostructure-based Platforms for Breast Cancer Theragonostics" (Co-Investigators: Kenneth Shroyer, Iwao Ojima).
*Stanley Zucker, M.D. (PI) Professor, Department of Medicine, "Role of Novel Protein (cerif) in Breast Cancer Metastasis" (Co-Investigators: Kenneth Shroyer).
*Wen-Tien Chen, M.D. (PI), Research Professor, Department of Medicine, Michael Pearl, M.D. (Co-PI) Professor, Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine, "Detecting Circulating Ovarian Cancer Cells during Treatment".
*Nicole S. Sampson, Ph.D. (PI) Professor, Department of Chemistry, "Role of fadA5 in M. Tuberculosis Sterol Metabolism.

ICB&DD congratulates Dr. Wei-Xing Zong, the recipient of Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer research grant. Dr. Zong was awarded the grant for his work examining the role of autophagy in breast cancer cell death in response to chemotherapy. The award supports junior scientists exploring new ideas and novel approaches to advance breast cancer research. Dr. Zong was awarded $300,000 for two years, with an option of an additional performance-based award of $150,000 in year three. Susan G. Komen for the Cure is one of the world’s largest breast cancer organizations.

The ICB&DD is pleased to announce the 2nd Annual ICB&DD Symposiumon "Frontiers in Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery" which will be held at the Charles B Wang Center on Friday, October 10, 2008. The ICB&DD Annual Symposium is thematically focused in areas of research interest in drug discovery, chemical and computational biology, cancer and infectious diseases. The Symposium invites renowned scholars as well as the rising stars of Stony Brook University (SBU) in chemical biology and drug discovery to convey their most advanced accomplishments and exchange innovative ideas in biomedical research among speakers, faculty, staff, and students on campus as well as researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory and industries in greater NY metropolitan area. The Plenary Lecturers this year are Dr. Brian T. Chait (The Rockefeller University), Dr. William F. DeGrado (University of Pennsylvania, NAS), Dr. John Haley (OSI Pharmaceuticals), Dr. William L. Jorgensen (Yale University) and Dr. Yves Pommier (National Cancer Institute). Invited Lecturers are Galina Botchkina (SBU), Dr. Isaac Carrico (SBU) and Robert Rizzo (SBU). There will be Poster sessions on recently completed and on-going projects conducted in the ICB&DD member's laboratories as well as relevant research laboratories in the area. Once again, we are looking forward to another stimulating and productive symposium! Registration Form.

ICB&DD launches its "Cancer Research Program". Dr. Stanley Zucker will serve as the Director of this program. The main goal of this program is the promotion of collaborative research between cancer geneticists/biologists, medicinal chemists, imaging scientists, and medical/clinical oncologists at Stony Brook University and BNL. This program may bring in Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory as well as local pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Through this program, ICB&DD sees promise to acquire Program grants, U01 grants, multi-PI grants, and NYS funding. Currently the program includes Drs. Stanley Zucker (Program Director), Iwao Ojima, Basil Rigas, Maria Ryan, Kenneth Shroyer, Todd Miller, Richard Lin, Howard Crawford, Jian Cao, Galina Botchkina, Wei-Xing Zong, and Balaji Sitharaman. The ICB&DD Director and Steering Committee are looking forward to the productive development of this new program.

ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. Kenneth Shroyer as a Member. Dr. Shroyer is the Chairman of the Department of Pathology, School of Medicine. For the past 25 years, he has been involved in the cutting-edge of pathology research focusing on translating discoveries in basic research to clinical application. He is an expert in Surgical and Cytopathology and nationally recognized for translational studies in the development of novel molecular markers for treating cancer. Dr. Shroyer’s research in biomarkers and techniques are useful for the analysis of tumor biomarkers for cancers of gynecological nature and for endocrine and gastroenterology cancers as in thyroid, pancreas, and colon. His extensive experience and expertise in translational research will be beneficial and ideal for the recently launched ICB&DD’s Cancer Research Program.

ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. Stephen Walker as a Project Member. Dr. Walker is an Associate Professor in the Department of Oral Biology and Pathology, School of Dental Medicine. His research interest focuses on the cell surface of Gram-negative oral bacteria with an emphasis on the lipopolysaccharide and outer membrane proteins; Attachment of oral bacteria to host cells; anthrax and bio-terrorism; microbial diagnostics. He will become a valuable member of the ICB&DD’s Infectious Diseases Research Program.

ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. Balaji Sitharaman as a Project Member. Dr. Sitharaman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Multi-Functional Nano & Supramolecular- Biosystems Laboratory, Stony Brook School of Medicine. He is interested in the unique properties of carbon nanobiomaterials to develop Advanced contrast agents (CAs) for molecular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nanocomposites to improve the physical and biological (osteoconduction and osteoinduction) properties of polymer scaffolds for bone tissue engineering and non-viral vectors for gene transfection. He will become a valuable member of the ICB&DD’s Cancer Research Program.

Subramaniam Swaminathan ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. Subramanyam Swaminathan as a Member. Dr. Swaminathan is a Scientist in the Biology Department of Brookhaven National Laboratory. Dr. Swami is a highly established structural biologist and an expert in protein crystallography, especially on the botulinum neurotoxins. His experience and expertise is a valuable asset for the ICB&DD’s Structural Biology as well as Infectious Diseases Research Programs.

liz boon ICB&DD Congratulates Elizabeth Boon, the recipient of NYSTAR James D. Watson Young Investigator Award. NYSTAR awarded her $200,000 for her proposal entitled: “H-NOX domains for sensing and delivery of biologically important gas molecules” http://www.nystar.state.ny.us/pr/08/press02-08.htm She has also recently won the ACS PROGRESS/Dreyfus "rising star" Award. Congratulations Professor Elizabeth Boon.

ICB&DD is pleased to announce that the January 2008 issue of Accounts of Chemical Research (ACS) features Professor Ojima as the Guest Editor with a newly designed format including Conspectus, on "Modern Molecular Approaches to Drug Design and Discovery" (http://pubs3.acs.org/acs/journals/toc.page?incoden=achre4). This special thematic issue consists of 15 articles including contributions from Professors Ojima and Tonge as well as Professor Glenn Prestwich (former Chemistry Professor, SBU). Also, an article by Professor Ghosh (Purdue Univ.) was coauthored by a recent SBU Chemistry Ph.D. alumnus, Dr. Bruno Chapsal (Ph.D. 2005, Ojima). Congratulations Professor Ojima.

Centers of Excellence in Chemical Methodologies and Library Development (CMLD) at Stony Brook NIH-NIGMS P50 proposal was submitted.

ICB&DD, (Iwao Ojima, Kaneko Takushi, Kathy Parker, Rob Rizzo, Dale Drueckhammer, Carlos Zimmerling, Jin Wang and Lee Arnold), Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (Derek Tan) and Brookhaven National Laboratory (Subramanyan Swaminathan) have joined together to establish a Center of Chemical Methodologies and Library Development at Stony Brook by recently submitting a proposal for the RFA-GM-08-007, Centers of Excellence in Chemical Methodologies and Library Development (P50). The Chemical Methodologies and Library Development Center at Stony Brook University (CMLD-SBU) will establish a core facility for the synthesis of high-quality chemical libraries, which will be used ultimately in high-throughput biological screening. The library synthesis core facility will validate newly developed methodologies from three project teams for synthesis of chemical diversity libraries and apply newly developed chemical methodologies to the generation of the high purity libraries. The core will store the final libraries and provide samples to the NIH Molecular Small Molecule Repository (10-20 mg per compound). The core will also provide them through members of the biological research community for biological screening. We look forward to the success of the important CMLD application.

2007 News

ICB&DD is pleased to announce that 4 recipients of Fusion-Seed Grant Awards ( 9 total awards in 2007) from Stony
Brook School of Medicine are members of ICB&DD. The Fusion awards are listed as follows:

*Richard A. Clark, MD (PI) Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Adam J. Singer, MD (Co-PI)

Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, "Fibronectin peptides for wound healing in diabetes".
*James Konopka, PhD (PI) Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology, Roger Johnson, PhD

(Co-PI) Professor, Department of Physiology & Biophysics, "Novel anti-fungal drug strategy".
*Iwao Ojima, PhD (PI) Professor, Department of Chemistry, ICB & DD, Stanley Zucker, MD (Co-PI), Professor,

Department of Medicine, VAMC/Northport, Maria Ryan, PhD (Co-PI), Professor, Department of Oral Biology

& Pathology "Preclinical studies on DHA-SBT-1214 for IND filing".
*Peter Tonge, PhD (PI) Professor, Department of Chemistry, Thomas O'Riordan, MD (Co-PI) Associate Professor,

Department of Medicine "Aerosol delivery of TB drugs".

2007 Annual ICB&DD Symposium Program

The ICB&DD is pleased to announce the inaugural "2007 Annual ICB&DD Symposium" on "Frontiers in Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery" which will be held at the Charles B Wang Center on Friday, October 12, 2007. The inaugural Symposium invites prominent scholars in chemical biology and drug discovery to highlight cutting-edge research accomplishments and exchange of creative ideas for biomedical research among speakers, faculty, staff, and students on campus as well as researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory and industries in greater NY metropolitan area. The plenary speakers are Dr. Susan B. Horwitz (Albert Einstein College of Medicine), Dr. Philip A. Cole (Johns Hopkins University), Dr. William F. DeGrado (University of Pennsylvania), Dr. Vern L. Schramm (Albert Einstein College of Medicine) and Dr. Barry S. Coller (Rockefeller University). There will be a poster session on recently completed and on-going projects conducted by the ICB&DD member's laboratories as well. We are looking forward to this high profile symposium!
Registration For

ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr.Lee Arnold, as a new Project Member. Dr. Arnold is the President of DiscoverElucidations, LLC and a Visiting Professor at the Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University. He has served as a Vice President for OSI Pharmaceuticals (where he was the inventor of the OSI's number 1 anticancer drug, "Tarceva") and the Project Team Leader for successful cancer drug discovery programs at BASF and Abott. His expertise in cancer chemistry and discovery as well as drug development would clearly be very beneficial to ICB&DD.
ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. Takushi Kaneko, as a Project Member. Dr. Kaneko is a Visiting Professor in the Department of Chemistry and a former Research Scientist at Pfizer (1989-2007) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (1977-1989). He is a highly established medicinal chemist with extensive experience in the area of drug discovery for infectious diseases as well as cancer. He is also an expert in natural products chemistry and synthetic organic chemistry. Dr. Kaneko will bring in his industrial perspective to the drug discovery development at ICB&DD
ICB&DD is pleased to announce that Dr. Carlos Simmerling assumed his new role as the Director of the "ICB&DD Computational Biology Program" as of March 12, 2007. Because of the acquisitions of a super computer from IBM "Blue Gene" ($26M) as well as a couple of high power computer clusters on campus, the Computational Biology has become highly competitive.
Since ICB&DD has very well networked computational biologists; (Drs. Carlos Simmerling, Robert Rizzo, Jin Wang, and David Green) with superb computational facilities, the ICB&DD Director and the Steering Committee believe it is the right time for them to have an independent program. The "ICB&DD Structural and Computational Program" continues as the integration of the two programs, i.e., "ICB&DD Structural Biology Program" (Dr. Daniel Raleigh, Director) and "ICB&DD Computational Biology Program" (Dr. Carlos Simmerling, Director).
ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. Richard Lin, as a Project Member. Dr. Lin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine (Hematology) and Institute of Molecular Cardiology, School of Dental Medicine. Dr. Lin is interested in the signaling pathways that control cell growth and survival, and how alterations in these pathways lead to cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure or cancer. He has an ongoing collaboration with Dr. Dale Drueckhammer (Chemistry) on the development of small molecule inhibition of the mTOR kinase domain for treatment of breast cancer and tuberous sclerosis complex.
ICB&DD is pleased to announce that Professor Maria E. Ryan, Oral Biology and Pathology; Director of Clinical Research, School of Dental Medicine, has joined the ICB&DD as a Steering Committee Member. Dr. Ryan is interested in the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic modalities for the management of periodontal disease Special emphasis on oral-systemic disease links. She has been collaborating with Distinguished Professor Lorne Golub for the developments of tetracyclines. Her expertise in the preclinical and clinical studies of tetracyclines will provide significant input into the drug discovery and development efforts of ICB&DD.
ICB&DD is pleased to announce the addition of Dr. Basil Rigas as a Member and Steering Committee Member to ICB&DD. Dr. Rigas is a Professor in the Department of Medicine (Preventive Medicine) as well as Pharmacological Sciences, and Director of Cancer Prevention Center as well as Chief, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology . Dr. Rigas is leading a highly promising preclinical and clinical research on nitroaspirins as chemotherapeutic as well as chemopreventive drugs for cancer, especially colon and pancreatic cancers. His basic research interests include the biochemical effects and mechanism of nitric oxide release from nitroaspirins. ICB&DD welcomes Dr. Basil.
ICB&DD is pleased to announce that Dr. Wadie Bahou, Professor, Department of Medicine (Hematology) and Vice-Dean for Scientific Affairs, SOM, has joined the Steering Committee. Dr. Bahou has been associated with ICB&DD as a Project Member since 2004. His new appointment as a Steering Committee member will further strengthen the bridge between ICB&DD and School of Medicine at Stony Brook.

2006 News

ICB&DD is pleased to inform you that the institute's first U01 NIH grant, Peter J. Tonge: PI, on "Chemotherapeutics Against Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis" has been funded ($3.16 M for 5 years). This is a milestone achievement for ICB&DD and the institute is very grateful to Pete for his leadership and dedication to make this happen. As the Director of the Tuberculosis Related Research Program at ICB&DD this is his first outstanding achievement in this role. Congratulations Professor Tonge!

ICB&DD is pleased to announce that Professor Nicole Sampson has been awarded a Faculty Development Grant from the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR). The NYSTAR grant was awarded to Professor Sampson to support the development of molecular-based treatments and diagnostics for cancer, tuberculosis and fertility that have potential for commercialization within New York State. Congratulations Professor Nicole Sampson!
Dr. Iwao Ojima, Distinguished Professor and Director of ICB&DD has been inducted into the ACS Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame. The "Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame" was established by the executive committee of the Division of Medicinal Chemistry, American Chemical Society in 2006. Inductees must be members of the Division who have made an overall outstanding contribution to medicinal chemistry through a combination of research, teaching and service. Congratulations Professor Ojima!
ICB&DD would like to welcome Dr. Elizabeth Boon and Dr. Isaac Carrico as Project Members. Dr. Boon is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry. The basis of Dr. Boon's research is understanding sensing and signal transduction in bacteria from a molecular to a community level. Dr. Carrico is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry. Dr. Carrico's research centers around the concept of chemical biology, more specifically introducing small unnatural moieties into the biopolymers of life.
ICB&DD and Distinguished Professor Iwao Ojima were recently featured in an article titled "Careers in Drug Discovery: Targeting the Mechanisms and Opportunities", representing the drug discovery in academia, together with the leaders in pharmaceutical industries and NIH in this week's Science. The article by Mike May may be viewed by clicking the following Science online link; http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_development/previous_issues/articles/ 2006_07_28/careers_in_drug_discovery_targeting_the_mechanisms_and_opportunities
We are pleased to announce the addition of Dr. Galina Botchkina and Dr. Wei-Xing Zong as Project Members to ICB&DD. Dr. Galina Botchkina is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery, Surgical Oncology. Dr. Botchkina's research investigates cancer stem cells in areas such as cancer biology, target discovery, intervention and drug discovery. Dr. Wei-Xing Zong is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology. Dr. Zong's research interests include molecular regulation of apoptotic and necrotic cell death.
ICB&DD launches its "Structural and Computational Biology Program." Professor Daniel P. Raleigh will serve as the Director of this program. The aim of this program is to bolster consolidated efforts of the promotion of basic chemical biology research. At the same time, this program will play a crucial role in the drug discovery research at ICB&DD. Currently the program includes Stony Brook Professors Daniel Raleigh (Program Director), Carlos de la Santos, Carlos Simmerling, Rob Rizzo, Jin Wang, David Green, and Caroline Kisker. As the program grows we hope to collaborate with protein crystallographers from Brookhaven National Laboratories. The ICB&DD Director and Steering Committee look forward to successful initiatives for collaborative research that this new program will bring about.
ICB&DD introduces it's "Tuberculosis Related Research Program". Professor Peter J. Tonge serves as the Director of this program. The main goal of this program is the promotion of collaborative research at Stony Brook University as well as research consortiums with other institutions, including BNL. Through this program ICB&DD sees promise to acquire Program Project Grants, U01-type grants as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Global Health grant on TB research. Currently this program includes Stony Brook Professors Peter Tonge (Program Director), Nicole Sampson, Carlos Simmerling, Caroline Kisker and Iwao Ojima as well as Professor Richard Slayden from Colorado State University and researchers from other universities. The ICB&DD Director and Steering Committee are looking forward to the rewarding development of this new program.

2006 News

Charles B. WangCenter In honor of Professor Ojima's achievements on the occasion of his 60th birthday, Stony Brook University will hold the Stony Brook Symposium on New Horizons in Organic Chemistry, September 29-30, 2005 in the Wang Center of Stony Brook University.

This event promises to bring world-leading scientists from the U.S. as well as abroad, including Professor Ryoji Noyori, 2001 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. The symposium sessions include "Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery" and "Bioorganic Chemistry and Chemical Biology".

Dr. Jin Wang, Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Physics, received this year's National Science Foundation Career Award. Congratulations Dr. Wang and best wishes for continuous success. Information regarding the National Science Foundation may be viewed at the following website: http://www.nsf.gov/index.jsp

The National Academy of Sciences announced the election of 72 new members and 18 foreign associates from 14 countries in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Election to membership in the Academy is considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded a U.S. scientist or engineer. The list may be viewed at: http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/05032005?OpenDocument
Dr. Susan Band Horwitz, Advisory Board Member of ICB&DD, Rose C. Falkenstein Chair in Cancer Research and associate director for drug development, Albert Einstein Cancer Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, New York City, http://www.yu.edu/aecomdb/facultydir/facultypage4.asp?id=330 has been elected into the National Academy of Sciences. Congratulations Dr. Horwitz and best wishes for continuous success and leadership in cancer research.

Prof. Robert Rizzo (an affiliated faculty member in Chemistry whose primary appointment is in Applied Mathematics) has received a New York State James D. Watson Investigator Award for his project to use computational drug discovery of small molecules to treat HIV.

Congratulations Nicole Sampson, recipient of the ACS Biological Chemistry Division's Pfizer Award in Enzymology. This award is given to researchers who "have accomplished outstanding work in enzyme chemistry where the presence of enzyme action is unequivocally demonstrated". Prof. Sampson will be honored at an award symposium being held at the ACS National Meeting in Washington, DC (Aug 31-Sept 1, 2005).

"Drug-Discovery Plan to Tap, and Help, Africa Forests" written by John Roach for National Geographic News (August 26, 2004)