Carston R. Wagner, PhD
Professor and Endowed Chair in Medicinal Chemistry, Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Contact Info
Professor and Endowed Chair in Medicinal Chemistry, Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Director, Chemical Biology Initiative
Institute for Molecular Virology
PostDoc, NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, 1987-1991
PhD, Duke University, 1987
University of North Carolina, 1981
Summary
The Wagner Lab seeks to apply the principles of organic chemistry, enzymology analytical chemistry, molecular & cellular biology, biophysics and nanotechnology to the development of new methods for drug design and delivery, chemically engineered cellular therapies and tissue engineering. The laboratories primary therapeutic focus has been on the development of new anti-cancer and antiviral therapies, as well as novel non-opioid pain medications. Fundamentally, we are interested in understanding and applying the principles of enzyme catalysis and macromolecular and cellular interactions. Our hope is that by creatively applying our expanding knowledge of these areas, we will continue to impact the design of future more selective and powerful medicines.
Expertise
Protein design, drug design, Anti-cancer, anti-viral, chemical biology, neuropathic pain
Awards & Recognition
Research
Research Summary/Interests
In general the use of anticancer drugs is associated with a variety of toxic side-effects. To tackle this important problem, our laboratory is devoted to the development of approaches that will deliver anticancers drug, proteins and nucleic acids to cancer tissues and not normal tissues. This challenge is being met by exploiting discoveries from our laboratory in prodrug design and nanobiotechnology. The experimental approach taken by our laboratory is highly multidisciplinary, relying on the tools of synthetic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, enzymology, molecular biology, biochemical pharmacology, X-ray crystallography, molecular modeling and spectroscopy to address our goal.
Patents
- Nucleosides with Antiviral and Anticancer Activity, U.S. Patent #6,475,985, issued 11/05/02.
- Small Molecules for Inhibition of Function and Drug Delivery to Leukocytes, U. S. Patent, #6,881,747 B2; issued 4/19/05.
- Nucleoside Phosphoramidates and Nucleoside Phosphoramidases, U. S. Patent, #7217523; issued 5/15/07.
- Protein Nanorings, U. S. Patent (pending).
Publications
- PubMed
1.Wagner, C. R. A great ride. Mol. Pharm. 2018, 15, 5445.
2.Sanchez, J. J.; Sanchez, J. E.; Noor, S.; Ruffaner-Hanson, C. D.; Davies, S.; Wagner, C. R.; Jantzie, L. L.; Mellios, N.; Savage, D. D.; Milligan, E. D. Targeting the beta2-integrin LFA-1, reduces adverse neuroimmune actions in neuropathic susceptibility caused by prenatal alcohol exposure. Acta Neuropathol Commun 2019, 7, 54.
3.Mota, R.; Campen, M. J.; Cuellar, M. E.; Garver, W. S.; Hesterman, J.; Qutaish, M.; Daniels, T.; Nysus, M.; Wagner, C. R.; Norenberg, J. P. (111)In-DANBIRT In vivo molecular imaging of inflammatory cells in atherosclerosis. Contrast Media Mol. Imaging 2018, 2018, 6508724.
4.Csizmar, C. M.; Petersburg, J. R.; Perry, T. J.; Rozumalski, L.; Hackel, B. J.; Wagner, C. R. Multivalent ligand binding to cell membrane antigens: defining the interplay of affinity, valency, and expression density. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 251-261.
5.Csizmar, C. M.; Petersburg, J. R.; Wagner, C. R. Programming cell-cell interactions through non-genetic membrane engineering. Cell Chem. Biol. 2018, 25, 931-940.