Academic Drug Discovery: Putting Exercise in a Pill & Drugging the Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Pathway

In this two-part presentation, we will highlight our investigations on developing small molecule protonophores selective for mitochondria as potential treatment for obesity and fatty liver disease. The goal is to develop molecules that increase energy expenditure without the need for exercise. On the second part, we will discuss developing inhibitors of proteins in the sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) pathway for the treatment of multiple sclerosis and chronic kidney disease. S1P is an endogenous signaling molecule that functions as a chemotactic agent that is important in inflammation, fibrosis, and cancer. In both programs, the medicinal chemistry approach, assay development, and in vivo studies will be presented.