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.
The research of Dr. Carston Wagner and his lab was featured in a recent Minnesota Daily article titled "UMN Researchers Attacking Cancer Cells with Nanotechnology." The article highlights the Wagner lab's steps towards clinical trials, in discussion with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, for their nanoring therapy. The nanotherapy modifies the user's own T cells in order to reactivate the immune system to target cancer cells. Unlike other methods to kill tumor cells, the nanoring therapy is reversible and does not carry long-term risks.
Professor Rory Remmel attended the 49th Gordon Research Conference in Drug Metabolism last week at Holderness Academy near Plymouth, New Hampshire. Dr. Swati Nagar (recently promoted to full professor at Temple University) chaired the meeting. She was a PHD student of Professor Emeritus Cheryl Zimmerman and co-advised by Dr. Remmel. Three of Dr. Remmel's former PhD students, Vinayak Hosagrahara, Upendra Argikar, and Aaron Teitelbaum were also in attendance. Dr. Steven Leeder (Minnesota PharmD, 1982) was elected as the academic vice chair.
Alex Hurben, a graduate student in the Doran lab, has been selected as a trainee for the NIH T32 Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Grant. The grant program allows first-rate students to grow into accomplished professionals both in their primary area of interest and in a complementary field through interdisciplinary research interactions and experiences. Alex will be working with Drs. Doran and Tretyakova to identify harmful oxidation products that drive Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Dr. Rick Wagner was interviewed for the University of Minnesota Research Brief discussing his team's recently published work into the development of techniques to activate the body's immune cells against tumor cells. “We designed protein-based nanorings that bind to T-cells,” explained Wagner.
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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 facaulty 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.