Two scientists with extensive industrial drug discovery and development experience recently joined the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute faculty as professors of Antiviral Drug Discovery and Development.
Andrea Cuconati, PhD, a resident of Upper Dublin Township, and Dimitar Gotchev, PhD, a resident of Horsham Township, both came from Arbutus Biopharma Corporation in Warminster.
Ju-Tao Guo, PhD, acting president and chief scientific officer of the Blumberg Institute, said Dr. Cuconati and Dr. Gotchev and will boost his organization’s work to develop antiviral therapeutics in several areas.
“We are thrilled that they have joined our team,” Dr. Guo said. “We continue to expand strategically in support of our primary mission, which is to find new treatment and eventually a cure for hepatitis B infection, a very challenging disease.”
Dr. Andrea Cuconati
Dr. Cuconati has focused his career on the treatment of viral diseases and has worked on six different human virus families. He earned a doctorate in molecular genetics at Stony Brook University. As a post-doctoral fellow with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, he studied viral regulation of the cell cycle and apoptosis. He went on to ViroPharma, where he established antiviral programs on Ebola and Lassa viruses and contributed to a program on RSV. As an original faculty member of the Institute for Hepatitis and Virus Research (since renamed the Blumberg Institute) and head of biology at Enantigen Therapeutics, Dr. Cuconati built a drug discovery program working on novel inhibitors of hepatitis B virus and hepatocellular carcinoma, receiving nearly $5M in federal and state grants. As a senior director at Arbutus Biopharma, he initiated drug discovery campaigns and contributed to preclinical development of novel antivirals directed at hepatitis B and coronaviruses, with direct involvement in five clinical candidates.
Dr. Dimitar Gotchev
Dr. Gotchev earned a doctorate in organic synthesis from North Carolina State University. He did postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania and began his commercial career as a medicinal chemist at GlaxoSmithKline. He transitioned to biotechnology at Trevena Inc. where he was a team member and inventor of Olinvyk™ (oliceridine) for the management of severe acute pain. At Arbutus Biopharma he served as a director in medicinal chemistry. With nearly 20 years of experience in big pharma and biotech, Dr. Gotchev led research programs across several therapeutic areas including CNS, oncology and virology. He and his team have advanced multiple clinical candidates for the prevention of hepatitis B and coronavirus infections. He is an active member of the local scientific community and served as the President of the Philadelphia Organic Chemists Club.
About the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute: An independent, nonprofit research organization, the Blumberg Institute was launched in 2003 by the Hepatitis B Foundation to advance its research mission. Today, the Institute is a leading center for translational research in hepatitis B, liver cancer and related diseases. The Blumberg Institute manages the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC) in Doylestown, where it is located, and B+labs at Cira Centre in Philadelphia. Visit our website and follow us on LinkedIn and X, @BlumbergInstit1.
Two scientists with extensive industrial drug discovery and development experience recently joined the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute faculty as professors of Antiviral Drug Discovery and Development.
Andrea Cuconati, PhD, a resident of Upper Dublin Township, and Dimitar Gotchev, PhD, a resident of Horsham Township, both came from Arbutus Biopharma Corporation in Warminster.
Ju-Tao Guo, PhD, acting president and chief scientific officer of the Blumberg Institute, said Dr. Cuconati and Dr. Gotchev and will boost his organization’s work to develop antiviral therapeutics in several areas.
“We are thrilled that they have joined our team,” Dr. Guo said. “We continue to expand strategically in support of our primary mission, which is to find new treatment and eventually a cure for hepatitis B infection, a very challenging disease.”
Dr. Cuconati has focused his career on the treatment of viral diseases and has worked on six different human virus families. He earned a doctorate in molecular genetics at Stony Brook University. As a post-doctoral fellow with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, he studied viral regulation of the cell cycle and apoptosis. He went on to ViroPharma, where he established antiviral programs on Ebola and Lassa viruses and contributed to a program on RSV. As an original faculty member of the Institute for Hepatitis and Virus Research (since renamed the Blumberg Institute) and head of biology at Enantigen Therapeutics, Dr. Cuconati built a drug discovery program working on novel inhibitors of hepatitis B virus and hepatocellular carcinoma, receiving nearly $5M in federal and state grants. As a senior director at Arbutus Biopharma, he initiated drug discovery campaigns and contributed to preclinical development of novel antivirals directed at hepatitis B and coronaviruses, with direct involvement in five clinical candidates.
Dr. Gotchev earned a doctorate in organic synthesis from North Carolina State University. He did postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania and began his commercial career as a medicinal chemist at GlaxoSmithKline. He transitioned to biotechnology at Trevena Inc. where he was a team member and inventor of Olinvyk™ (oliceridine) for the management of severe acute pain. At Arbutus Biopharma he served as a director in medicinal chemistry. With nearly 20 years of experience in big pharma and biotech, Dr. Gotchev led research programs across several therapeutic areas including CNS, oncology and virology. He and his team have advanced multiple clinical candidates for the prevention of hepatitis B and coronavirus infections. He is an active member of the local scientific community and served as the President of the Philadelphia Organic Chemists Club.
About the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute: An independent, nonprofit research organization, the Blumberg Institute was launched in 2003 by the Hepatitis B Foundation to advance its research mission. Today, the Institute is a leading center for translational research in hepatitis B, liver cancer and related diseases. The Blumberg Institute manages the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC) in Doylestown, where it is located, and B+labs at Cira Centre in Philadelphia. Visit our website and follow us on LinkedIn and X, @BlumbergInstit1.