Gunda I. Georg, PhD

Professor Georg and her group have published over 250 scientific articles and are involved in the design, semisynthesis, total synthesis, and evaluation of biologically active agents. Current therapeutic areas include cancer, male and female non-hormonal contraception, cancer, and epilepsy. 

These projects require the development of synthetic methods, synthesis of natural products, and structure-activity studies aimed at improving the therapeutic efficacy of lead compounds, including natural products, and hits from high throughput screening. 

Interdisciplinary projects are a main focus in the Georg group, involving medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, screening, structure-based drug design, pharmacology, pharmaceutical chemistry and reproductive biology. Active collaboration exists between the Contraception Research Branch of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, several research groups at the University of Minnesota, and around the country.

Professor Georg is the PI of a NICHD P50 “Contraceptive Discovery, Development and Behavioral Research Center” that involves six institutions. She is the co-inventor of LusedraTM, which was marketed by Eisa Pharmaceuticals, of Minnelide, an anticancer agent in phase II clinical trials, and of Gamendazole, a male contraceptive agent in preclinical development.

2020 Gilead Alfred Burger Award in Medicinal Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. The award is granted for outstanding contributions in the field of medicinal chemistry. 

Professor Georg served as co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry of the American Chemical Society until December 2020.

She has served as a member of review panels for the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the American Cancer Society, and others. 

In 2017 she was inducted into the Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame of the Division of Medicinal Chemistry of the American Chemical Society and named Research Exemplar by the Research Exemplar Project of Washington University in St. Louis. 

She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Chemical Society.

In 2013 she received the Ernest H. Volwiler Research Achievement Award of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, was named a Fellow of the American Chemical Society, and was the International Chair of Therapeutic Innovation, Paris, France (LERMIT). 

She was the 2000 Sato Memorial International Award recipient of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan, and the 2001 Nolan and Gloria Sommer Award Winner (University of Nebraska).

Recent Named Lectures:

• 2019 G. Van Greene Distinguished Lecture, Mercer University, College of Pharmacy
• 2019 3M/Ronald A. Mitsch Lecture in Chemistry. Hamlin University, Saint Paul
• 2019 Matzuk Lecture, Baylor College of Medicine
• 2018 Sigma-Aldrich Lectureship, Northwestern University, Center for Innovation and Drug Discovery
• 2017 J. Doyle Smith / Larry Winter Lecture, Virginia Commonwealth University
• 2016 Varro E. Tyler Distinguished Lecture, Purdue University College of Pharmacy and Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
• 2015 Karcher-Barton-Aldrich Award Lecture, The University of Oklahoma, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
• 2015 Nieuwland Lectureship, Department of Chemistry, Notre Dame University
• 2010 Henry A. Lardy Lecture, South Dakota State University Department of Chemistry
• 2010 Sosnovsky Distinguished Lectureship, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Department of Chemistry

• American Chemical Society
• Division of Medicinal Chemistry
• Division of Organic Chemistry
• American Association for the Advancement of Science
• American Association for Cancer Research
• International Society of Heterocyclic Chemistry
• Deutsche Pharmazeutische Gesellschaft
• Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker
• Division of Medicinal Chemistry
• American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists
• Iota Sigma Pi
• Phi Lambda Upsilon
• Phi Beta Kappa

• German

• US7,514,463
• WO2010129918 A8
• US20140323748 A1
• WO 2015/117024A1
• WO 2016/149540 A1

PubMed

• Jiang J, Sigua LH, Chan A, Kalra P, Pomerantz WCK, Schönbrunn E, Qi J, Georg GI. Dihydropyridine Lactam Analogs Targeting BET Bromodomains. ChemMedChem. 2022 Jan 5;17(1):e202100407. doi: 10.1002/cmdc.202100407. Epub 2021 Dec 21. PMID: 34932262; PMCID: PMC8762755.
• Jiang, J., Zhao, P. L., Sigua, L. H., Chan, A., Schönbrunn, E., Qi, J., & Georg, G. I. (2022). 1,4- Dihydropyridinebutyrolactone-derived ring-opened ester and amide analogs targeting BET bromodomains. Archiv der Pharmazie, 355(11), e2200288. PubMed Central ID Number: PMC9633406 doi: 10.1002/ardp.202200288
• Sundar, S. V., Zhou, J. X., Magenheimer, B. S., Reif, G. A., Wallace, D. P., Georg, G. I., . . . Calvet, J. P. (2022). The lonidamine derivative H2-gamendazole reduces cyst formation in polycystic kidney disease. American journal of physiology. Renal physiology, 323(4), F492-F506. PubMed Central ID Number: PMC9529276 doi: 10.1152/ajprenal.00095.2022
• Hau, R. K., Tash, J. S., Georg, G. I., Wright, S. H., & Cherrington, N. J. (2022). Physiological Characterization of theTransporter-Mediated Uptake of the Reversible Male Contraceptive H2-Gamendazole Across the Blood-Testis Barrier. The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics, 382(3), 299-312. PubMed Central ID Number: PMC9426764 doi: 10.1124/jpet.122.001195
• Guan, X., Cheryala, N., Karim, R. M., Chan, A., Berndt, N., Qi, J., . . . Schönbrunn, E. (2022). Bivalent BET Bromodomain Inhibitors Confer Increased Potency and Selectivity for BRDT via Protein Conformational Plasticity. Journal of medicinal chemistry, 65(15), 10441-10458. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.2c00453
• Noman MAA, Huang DS, Coulup SK, Syeda SS, Henry, Wong L, Georg GI. Cytotoxicity of phenylpironetin analogs and the metabolic fate of pironetin and phenylpironetin. Bioorg Chem. 2022 Aug;125:105915. doi: 10.1016/j.bioorg.2022.105915. Epub 2022 May 27. PMID: 35660840.
• Jiang J, Zhao PL, Sigua LH, Chan A, Schönbrunn E, Qi J, Georg GI. 1,4-Dihydropyridinebutyrolactone-derived ring-opened ester and amide analogs targeting BET bromodomains. Arch Pharm (Weinheim). 2022 Nov;355(11):e2200288. doi: 10.1002/ardp.202200288. Epub 2022 Aug 8. PMID: 35941525; PMCID: PMC9633406.
• Carlson EJ, Francis R, Liu Y, Li P, Lyon M, Santi CM, Hook DJ, Hawkinson JE, Georg GI. Corrigendum: Discovery and Characterization of Multiple Classes of Human CatSper Blockers. ChemMedChem. 2022 Oct 6;17(19):e202200441. doi: 10.1002/cmdc.202200441. Epub 2022 Aug 24. Erratum for: ChemMedChem. 2022 Aug 3;17(15):e202000499. PMID: 36002337.
• Carlson, E. J., Georg, G. I., & Hawkinson, J. E. (2022). Steroidal Antagonists of Progesterone- and Prostaglandin E(1)-Induced Activation of the Cation Channel of Sperm. Molecular pharmacology, 101(1), 56-67. PubMed Central ID Number: PMC8969127 doi: 10.1124/molpharm.121.00034

The Institute for Therapeutics Discovery and Development