VCU School of Pharmacy, Department of Medicinal Chemistry

Prof. Martin Safo's anti-sickling agent ILX002 has been taken up for pre-clinical and clinical development by the NHLBI under the CATALYZE Drug Development Program. He had been funded by an R61/R33 grant so far to perform a number of pre-clinical studies and acceptance into the NIH CATALYZE Program implies that his results have satisfied the program leaders of the value of investing in GMP scale synthesis, GMP toxicological studies, etc. The Program will attempt to develop the molecule sufficiently well so that big pharma can perform human phase I clinical studies, which are anticipated to begin in a year or so. This is great news for Prof. Safo, his collaborators (Drs. Yan Zhang and Jurgen Venitz)

Medicinal Chemistry Departmental Seminar

"Exploration of Histone Demethylases in Promoting Wnt-Induced Colorectal Tumorigenesis"

Speaker: Rosalie Hoyle, Graduate Student, Final Seminar, VCU Medicinal Chemistry Department

Thursday: July 25, 2024, Biotech Center, Founders Conference Room, 1st Floor, Time 1:00 pm

Medicinal Chemistry Departmental Seminar

"Chemoproteomics Reagents for Mass Spectrometry-Based Target Identification"

Speaker: Rachel Joshi, Graduate Student, Final Defense, VCU Medicinal Chemistry Department

Tuesday: July 23, 2024, Biotech Center, Founders Conference Room, 1st Floor, Time 9:30am

Award Ceremony and Placement Celebration

Rosalie Hoyle won The William Barr Graduate Student Scholar Award and The Dean's Award for Excellence in Graduate Study

Award Ceremony and Placement Celebration

Jannatun Namme won the MEDC GSA award for outstanding presentation by a second year MEDC graduate student.

Class of 2024: Mohammed AlAwadh delves into the intricacies of drug development After graduation, he will return to Saudi Arabia as a professor, teaching others the techniques he has learned at VCU.

Award Ceremony and Placement Celebration
Dickson Donu - Poster presentation

Chemical designed by Guo launches as tool for cholesterol research, drug discovery

A chemical designed by Youzhong Guo, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry, has been launched on the market. The chemical, called CHEAPS, maintains both the biochemical properties of cholesterol and the balance of hydrophobic (water-repellant) and hydrophilic (water-attracting) properties necessary for protein and cholesterol interaction research.

Guo and his team created this molecule, in part, due to their ongoing research on membrane proteins as drug targets. While conducting this research, Guo and his team discovered that existing chemicals on the market often had water solubility that was too high or too low for cholesterol research or the existing chemicals did not keep the biochemical properties of cholesterol intact. The team developed CHEAPS as an alternative to existing products and published a 2021 paper in Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – General Subjects on the design, synthesis, characterization and application of CHEAPS.

CHEAPS will be a convenient research tool for those working on cholesterol-related research and may be used as a lead for new drug discoveries, Guo says.

“Better research tools, such as CHEAPS, can help us understand the structure and active mechanisms of many human membrane proteins,” Guo says. “Consequently, the advanced knowledge of membrane proteins will provide greater insights into what causes certain diseases/conditions and will create many possibilities to develop novel treatment strategies for membrane protein-related human diseases.”

Congratulations, Dr. Guo and team!

Medicinal Chemistry Departmental Seminar

"Functional Near-Infrared Dyes for Applications in Chemical Biology"

Guest Speaker: Dr. Cliff Stains, PhD, Department of Chemistry, University of Virginia

Friday: December 8, 2023, Biotech Center, Founders Conference Room, 1st Floor, Time 3:15

Medicinal Chemistry GSA participated in the Walk to End Alzheimer's on Nov. 4th, 2023. With the help of students and faculty of the department, we were able to raise $1,817 towards funds for Alzheimer's care, support, and research. We are thrilled by everyone's support and continuous effort to represent our department in the Richmond community."

We have an opening for a full-time University and Academic Professional Research Lab Technician in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Dr. Shijun Zhang's laboratory. Recent graduates are encouraged to apply.

Medicinal Chemistry, Research Lab Technician About VCU:At VCU, we are UNCOMMON and UNLIKE any other university. A premier, urban, public research university nationally recognized as one of the be...

Medicinal Chemistry Departmental Seminar

"Development of Selective Survival Motor Neuron-2 (SMN2) Gene Splicing Modifier as a Treatment for Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA)"

Speaker: Jannatun Namme, Graduate Student, VCU Department of Medicinal Chemistry

Friday: November 17, 2023, Lyons Dental School Building, Lecture Room 442 (4th flr), Time 3:15 pm

"Design and Development of PROTAC Degraders Targeting the Androgen Receptor to Treat Prostate Cancer"

Speaker: Sarita Pandit, Graduate Student, VCU Department of Medicinal Chemistry

Friday: November 10, 2023, Biotech Center, Founders Conference Room, 1st Floor, Time 3:15

To mark the milestone of its first decade, Ram Pantry is holding a reopening event at its new location – 930 W. Grace St. – on Monday, Nov. 6, from 3 to 5 p.m.

Read more: https://news.vcu.edu/article/2023/10/marking-its-first-decade-ram-pantry-continues-serving-food-insecure-students-at-vcu

Poster winners for this years VCU School of Pharmacy Research and Career Day held on Friday, October 27, 2023

First prize in the Graduate Student category: Charles Jones: Poster title 'Finding Therapy in the Mirror of Abuse"

First prize in the Postdoctoral Scientist category: Nitai Sarkar: Poster title 'Optimization of the "Psychic Energizer" Monase'

First prize in the PharmD student category: Rui Lyu: Poster title: 'In Vivo Pharmacological Evaluations of NAN Derivatives as Novel Mu Opioid Receptor Modulators'

Medicinal Chemistry Departmental Seminar

"Development of Dual p70S6K and Akt Inhibitors for PAM Pathway-Related Cancers"

Speaker: Grace Rilee, Graduate Student, VCU Department of Medicinal Chemistry

Friday: November 3, 2023, Biotech Center, Founders Conference Room, 1st Floor, Time 3:15 pm

Medicinal Chemistry Departmental Seminar

"Targeting the Innate Immune System; the Discovery and Development of TRL7/8 Small Molecules"

Speaker: Ally Thompson, Graduate Student, VCU Department of Medicinal Chemistry

Friday: October 27, 2023, Lyons Dental School Building, Lecture Room 442 (4th flr), Time 3:15 pm

Dr. Safo has been awarded a CCTR Endowment Fund grant for his research project titled "Development of PKLR inhibitors for the treatment of liver cancer". Dr. Jiong Li is his collaborator on the project.

VCU announces guaranteed university admission program First-year freshman applicants who are in the top 10% of their high school graduating class or have a high school 3.5 GPA or above will qualify.

Medicinal Chemistry Departmental Seminar

"Thesis Defense - Characterizing 3-O-Sulfation-Induced Novel Compact Topologies in Heparan Sulfate and Their Interactions with Proteins"

Speaker: Sam Holmes, Graduate Student, VCU Department of Medicinal Chemistry

Friday: October 13, 2023, Biotech I, Founders Conference Room, 1st Floor, Time 3:15 pm

Dr. Yan Zhang has been awarded VCU's newly created 2023 National/International Recognition Award (NIRA). NIRA has been created to honor faculty members who have achieved exceptional recognition in their chosen field in terms of national and/or international accomplishments during the course of the current evaluation period (Jun 2022 to Jul 2023).

Medicinal Chemistry Departmental Seminar

"Design and Development of KRAS-G12C Inhibitors to Treat Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer"

Speaker: Albert Opare, Graduate Student, VCU Department of Medicinal Chemistry

Friday: October 6, 2023, Biotech I, Founders Conference Room, 1st Floor, Time 3:15 pm

Prof. Shijun Zhang has just received a major new grant award of $600,000 from the ADDF for two years. The title of the grant is 'Probing neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s with NLRP3 PET radiotracers'.

Medicinal Chemistry Departmental Seminar

"Exploring Plant Bioactive Compounds for Diabetes Treatment"

Guest Speaker: Dr. Dongmin Liu, Professor, Fralin Life Sciences Institute, Virginia Tech

Friday: September 1, 2023, Biotech I, Founders Conference Room, 1st Floor, Time 3:15 pm

Drs. Balaji Nagarajan and Viji Sankaranarayanan have been blessed with a baby girl Aadhya Sai. Both the baby and mother are doing well. Please join us in congratulating them and wishing the little one the best of health, happiness and peace.