Following is noteworthy news about people who work at the Blumberg Institute, which is the research arm of the Hepatitis B Foundation.
Nicholas A. Meanwell, Distinguished Professor at the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute, will present lectures at the 2024 edition of Drew University’s Residential School on Medicinal Chemistry and Biology in Drug Discovery (ResMed) to be held at the Hanover Marriott, June 10-14. He also is a member of the ResMed organizing committee and will deliver lectures on Problematic Functionalities and Bioisosteres in drug design.
On June 15, Dr. Meanwell will deliver a keynote address at the 2024 Mid-Atlantic Graduate Student Symposium hosted by Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He will deliver a lecture on A Synopsis of the Impact of Small Molecules on Human Health and Longevity in the Plenary Opening Session on June 23 at the 38thACS National Medicinal Chemistry Symposium to be held in Seattle, June 23-26. Dr. Meanwell also will be chairing the session A Medicinal Chemist’s Toolbox, which convenes on June 26.
June 1, 2024
Yanming Du, PhD, delivered an oral presentation at the 2024 International Conference of Antiviral Research (ICAR), with the title “Design and Synthesis of Clickable Photoaffinity Probes for Binding Site Identification on Yellow Fever Virus NS4B Target Built upon a Benzodiazepine Antiviral.” This work is part of an antiviral program, which targets yellow fever virus and has led to a potent antiviral drug candidate that is being developed, at the preclinical stage, by Blumberg Institute scientists. It is a good demonstration of the close collaboration between medicinal chemists (Zhengyuan Jiang, Nicky Hwang, Anilkumar Karampoori) and virologists (Sumangala Darsandhari, Fuxuan Wang, Bo Chen, Ju-Tao Guo, Jinhong Chang) at the Blumberg Institute, which is critically important to discover novel mechanism of actions of small molecule drugs.
May 6, 2024
Jinhong Chang, MD, PhD, was recently promoted to Vice President of Drug Development at the Blumberg Institute. Dr. Chang has been a part of the faculty at the Institute for the past 17 years, working on antiviral drug discovery, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis D virus, flaviviruses and filoviruses. She is the principal investigator of a multi-million-dollar contract with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, to develop a potential treatment for yellow fever. The research in Dr. Chang’s laboratory is mainly focused on discovery and development of direct-acting or host-targeting antivirals and innate immune modulators for treatment of chronic hepatitis B and D, as well as several acute viral diseases, such as yellow fever and other viral hemorrhagic fever.
Richard Pestell, PhD, MD, PhD, FACP, FRACP, MBA, Distinguished Professor of Translational Medical Research at the Blumberg Institute, was recently elected as a member of Academia Europaea (AE). The AE is the European Academy of Humanities, Letters and Sciences made up of individual members. To become a part of the AE, members must be invited based on peer review selection, nomination and confirmation of the chosen individual’s achievements. Dr. Pestell is one out of 125 elected members from the U.S.
April 2, 2024
Blumberg Institute faculty and staff contributed to an article published April 1, 2024, in Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters titled “PROTAC” modified dihydroquinolizinones (DHQs) that cause degradation of PAPD-5 and inhibition of hepatitis A virus and hepatitis B virus, in vitro. The authors are Timothy Block, PhD; Liudi Tang, PhD; Tianlun Zhou, PhD; Jason Clement, PhD; Liren Sun, PhD; Andrew Snedeker; Nicky Hwang, PhD; Yanming Du, PhD; and Daisy Noe of the Blumberg Institute and You Li, PhD, and Stanley Lemon, MD, of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The article is posted here.
Jan. 10, 2024
Yanming Du, PhD, director and professor of medicinal chemistry division at the Blumberg Institute, gave a presentation at the 2023 Hep DART meeting in Mexico early December on “Developing liver-targeted DHQ compounds with activity against hepatitis B virus.” The meeting’s purpose was to “assemble clinicians, researchers, basic scientists, nurses and physician assistants together to advance our knowledge of the ongoing drug development processes in the treatment of viral hepatitis (HBV, HCV, HDV, HAV and HEV), non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).”
The Blumberg Institute has welcomed two new visiting scholars from the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University: Jun Lyu, PhD, MD, and Pengfei Zhu, PhD. Dr. Zhu received his doctorate in pathogenic organisms at Peking University Health Science Center in 2014. At the First Affiliated Hospital, he worked as associate senior technician. Dr. Lyu received her doctorate in internal medicine at Southern Medical University in 2014. She was deputy chief physician at the First Affiliated Hospital.
Bruce Maryanoff, PhD and Cynthia Maryanoff, PhD
The Silicon Valley Section of the American Chemical Society will present the 2023 SVACS Harry and Carol Mosher Award to Bruce Maryanoff, PhD, and Cynthia Maryanoff, PhD, both Distinguished Professors at the Blumberg Institute, during a Jan. 25 event at Stanford University. This award recognizes “individuals who make impactful scientific contributions, advance chemistry and support ACS through outreach by sharing chemistry with the general public.” Both Maryanoffs are scholars in drug discovery and management in the pharmaceutical industry. They also are founders of the Maryanoff Scholars, a program to assist undergrad chemistry students at Drexel University. More recently, they founded Absolute Palate® LLC, a coffee business in Hawaii. More here.
June 5, 2024
Following is noteworthy news about people who work at the Blumberg Institute, which is the research arm of the Hepatitis B Foundation.
Nicholas A. Meanwell, Distinguished Professor at the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute, will present lectures at the 2024 edition of Drew University’s Residential School on Medicinal Chemistry and Biology in Drug Discovery (ResMed) to be held at the Hanover Marriott, June 10-14. He also is a member of the ResMed organizing committee and will deliver lectures on Problematic Functionalities and Bioisosteres in drug design.
On June 15, Dr. Meanwell will deliver a keynote address at the 2024 Mid-Atlantic Graduate Student Symposium hosted by Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He will deliver a lecture on A Synopsis of the Impact of Small Molecules on Human Health and Longevity in the Plenary Opening Session on June 23 at the 38th ACS National Medicinal Chemistry Symposium to be held in Seattle, June 23-26. Dr. Meanwell also will be chairing the session A Medicinal Chemist’s Toolbox, which convenes on June 26.
June 1, 2024
Yanming Du, PhD, delivered an oral presentation at the 2024 International Conference of Antiviral Research (ICAR), with the title “Design and Synthesis of Clickable Photoaffinity Probes for Binding Site Identification on Yellow Fever Virus NS4B Target Built upon a Benzodiazepine Antiviral.” This work is part of an antiviral program, which targets yellow fever virus and has led to a potent antiviral drug candidate that is being developed, at the preclinical stage, by Blumberg Institute scientists. It is a good demonstration of the close collaboration between medicinal chemists (Zhengyuan Jiang, Nicky Hwang, Anilkumar Karampoori) and virologists (Sumangala Darsandhari, Fuxuan Wang, Bo Chen, Ju-Tao Guo, Jinhong Chang) at the Blumberg Institute, which is critically important to discover novel mechanism of actions of small molecule drugs.
May 6, 2024
Jinhong Chang, MD, PhD, was recently promoted to Vice President of Drug Development at the Blumberg Institute. Dr. Chang has been a part of the faculty at the Institute for the past 17 years, working on antiviral drug discovery, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis D virus, flaviviruses and filoviruses. She is the principal investigator of a multi-million-dollar contract with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, to develop a potential treatment for yellow fever. The research in Dr. Chang’s laboratory is mainly focused on discovery and development of direct-acting or host-targeting antivirals and innate immune modulators for treatment of chronic hepatitis B and D, as well as several acute viral diseases, such as yellow fever and other viral hemorrhagic fever.
Richard Pestell, PhD, MD, PhD, FACP, FRACP, MBA, Distinguished Professor of Translational Medical Research at the Blumberg Institute, was recently elected as a member of Academia Europaea (AE). The AE is the European Academy of Humanities, Letters and Sciences made up of individual members. To become a part of the AE, members must be invited based on peer review selection, nomination and confirmation of the chosen individual’s achievements. Dr. Pestell is one out of 125 elected members from the U.S.
April 2, 2024
Blumberg Institute faculty and staff contributed to an article published April 1, 2024, in Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters titled “PROTAC” modified dihydroquinolizinones (DHQs) that cause degradation of PAPD-5 and inhibition of hepatitis A virus and hepatitis B virus, in vitro. The authors are Timothy Block, PhD; Liudi Tang, PhD; Tianlun Zhou, PhD; Jason Clement, PhD; Liren Sun, PhD; Andrew Snedeker; Nicky Hwang, PhD; Yanming Du, PhD; and Daisy Noe of the Blumberg Institute and You Li, PhD, and Stanley Lemon, MD, of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The article is posted here.
Jan. 10, 2024
Yanming Du, PhD, director and professor of medicinal chemistry division at the Blumberg Institute, gave a presentation at the 2023 Hep DART meeting in Mexico early December on “Developing liver-targeted DHQ compounds with activity against hepatitis B virus.” The meeting’s purpose was to “assemble clinicians, researchers, basic scientists, nurses and physician assistants together to advance our knowledge of the ongoing drug development processes in the treatment of viral hepatitis (HBV, HCV, HDV, HAV and HEV), non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).”
The Blumberg Institute has welcomed two new visiting scholars from the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University: Jun Lyu, PhD, MD, and Pengfei Zhu, PhD. Dr. Zhu received his doctorate in pathogenic organisms at Peking University Health Science Center in 2014. At the First Affiliated Hospital, he worked as associate senior technician. Dr. Lyu received her doctorate in internal medicine at Southern Medical University in 2014. She was deputy chief physician at the First Affiliated Hospital.
The Silicon Valley Section of the American Chemical Society will present the 2023 SVACS Harry and Carol Mosher Award to Bruce Maryanoff, PhD, and Cynthia Maryanoff, PhD, both Distinguished Professors at the Blumberg Institute, during a Jan. 25 event at Stanford University. This award recognizes “individuals who make impactful scientific contributions, advance chemistry and support ACS through outreach by sharing chemistry with the general public.” Both Maryanoffs are scholars in drug discovery and management in the pharmaceutical industry. They also are founders of the Maryanoff Scholars, a program to assist undergrad chemistry students at Drexel University. More recently, they founded Absolute Palate® LLC, a coffee business in Hawaii. More here.