Medicinal Chemistry
A diverse education in chemistry and biology that prepares students for the evolving multidisciplinary research of the pharmaceutical industry and academia.
Medicinal Chemistry
Medicinal Chemistry is a dynamic, multifaceted scientific discipline that is dedicated to the improvement of human health through research that leads to the design and development of safe and effective therapeutic, diagnostic, and environmental agents.
Research Areas
Biosafety/ biosecurity, cancer and neurological drug discovery, chemical neuroscience, chemoprevention and carcinogenesis, combinatorial biosynthesis, computer-aided drug design, drug metabolism, gene therapy, high-throughput screening, immunology, NMR, non-hormonal contraception, peptidomimetics and X-ray crystallography.
Faculty Spotlight: Courtney Aldrich
Dr. Aldrich received a $3.8 million NIH grant for the project "Siderophore Inhibitors for Tuberculosis that Block Mycobactin Biosynthesis" on which he is the sole PI. Also, his collaborative research was the focus of a LA times article.
Faculty Spotlight: Natalia Tretyakova
Dr. Natalia Tretyakova has been named a Distinguished McKnight University Professor.
Faculty Spotlight: Gunda Georg
Dr. Gunda Georg’s research towards male contraceptives was featured on several broadcast news outlets including the front page of the Star Tribune.
Institute for Therapeutics Discovery & Development
The ITDD carries out interdisciplinary research, helps educate the next generation of scientists, and enhances the biomedical research infrastructure by creating opportunities for drug discovery and early pre-clinical drug development.
Dr. Robert Turesky was quoted in the recent Time article "What the Science Really Says About Grilled Meat and Cancer Risk" discussing the role that heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (chemicals that form in cooked red meat) play in increasing the risk of human cancer:
Graduate student Erik Faber of the Georg lab is coauthor on a recent article published on Nature.com titled "What Medicine Can Teach Academia About Preventing Burnout." The authors propose a number of measures to combat burnout in science academia, including connecting graduate students with the public sphere, enabling time away from the lab, and exposing students to non-academic job opportunities.
Sara Coulup of the Georg lab has been selected to receive the 2019 Abul-Hajj/Hanna Exceptional Graduate Student Award in Medicinal Chemistry. The award is given for the quantity and quality of research accomplishments, the quality of the original research proposal for the oral exam, the quality of seminars and colloquia, the Graduate Course Grade-point average since entering the program, and service and citizenship in Departmental affairs.
Former graduate student from the Wagner lab Dr. Sanaa Bardaweel (2010) has been awarded the 2018 Samia Mango Award. This award is dedicated to recognizing distinguished female researchers in the health sciences fields. Dr. Bardaweel is now a Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Jordan where she focuses her research on anticancer drugs and cancer molecular biology.
Pages
Research Facilities
Make use of the Department's over 30,000 square feet of modern research laboratory space located within the Academic Health Center and the Biomedical Discovery District. Read more about our instrumentation, laboratories, facilities and faculty research.
Events
Student Spotlight: Sara Coulup
Sara Coulup wins the best oral presentation at MIKI 2018.
Student Spotlight: Alex Strom
Alex Strom was awarded the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education Pre-Doctoral Fellowship.