Drug Discovery & Development Faculty
Learn more about this group by contacting Dr. Eugene Douglass (Eugene.Douglass@uga.edu) or visiting the Center for Drug Discovery website.
Drug discovery and development involves identifying new drug targets, synthesis of new chemical or biological entities, preclinical evaluations, and formulation development to maximize therapeutic potential. Members of this multidisciplinary group cover the full spectrum of the drug discovery and development process including areas such as pharmacology, medicinal chemistry, pharmacokinetics (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion), biopharmaceutics (drug transporters), drug analysis, toxicology, and novel drug formulations and delivery (e.g. liposomes, nanoparticles, and gene delivery).
Bartlett, Michael
Michael Bartlett University Professor Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences; Neuroscience ADME of drugs and environmental toxicants; impact of compounds on memory, cognition, and neuropathic pain; oligonucleotide therapeutics and biomarkers. Website
Billmyre, Blake
Blake Billmyre Assistant Professor, Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences Department/Infectious Diseases Department High throughput genetics to better understand evolution of fungal pathogens and drive antifungal drug discovery. Website
Cai, Houjian
Houjian Cai Associate Professor Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences Post-translational modification including protein acylation, fatty acid metabolism, prostate stem cell, Src family kinases, prostate cancer, small molecular inhibitor. Website
Cassera, Maria Belen
Maria Belen Cassera Associate Professor Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Metabolomic approaches applied to drug target selection and validation in human pathogens; discovery and development of new chemotherapeutic interventions. Website
Crich, David
David Crich Professor; Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Drug Design Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences; Chemistry Organic and medicinal chemistry; carbohydrate chemistry; glycomimetics; drug design and development with emphasis on multi-drug resistant infectious diseases Website
Docampo, Roberto
Roberto Docampo Professor Cellular Biology Cellular and molecular biology of acidocalcisomes; the role of polyphosphate in trypanosomatids. Website
Douglass, Eugene
Eugene Douglass Assistant Professor Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences Multi-drug resistance(MDR) causes most cancer deaths(Nat. Rev. Cancer 2018, 18, 452). We use organic chemistry, cell biology and data-science to overcome MDR. Website
Funato, Kosuke
Kosuke Funato Assistant Professor Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Molecular and cellular mechanisms of brain tumors; oncohistone mutations; human ES cell-based tumor modeling; tumor heterogeneity and evolution Website
Greenspan, Phillip
Phillip Greenspan Associate Professor Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences Inhibition of glycation and LDL oxidation by natural products and nutraceuticals. Website
Grimsey, Neil J
Neil J. Grimsey Assistant Professor Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences Defining the spatiotemporal regulation of kinase pathways and the regulation of GPCR induced inflammation and proangiogenic signaling, for the development of therapeutic agents. Website
Handa, Hitesh
Hitesh Handa Associate Professor Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences Translational research in biomaterials (antifouling, antiplatelet, antibacterial, and antiviral) for tissue engineering and medical device applications Website
Harn, Donald
Donald Harn Professor GRA Distinguished Investigator Infectious Diseases Mechanistic analysis of parasite induced immune suppression. Translational research on immuno-modulation pertaining to inflammation based diseases. Vaccine development and trials. Website
Hart, Gerald
Gerald W. Hart Professor Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Eminent Scholar in Drug Discovery; Complex Carbohydrate Research Center Nutrient Regulation of Signaling and Transcription: Mechanisms Underlying Diabetes, Neurodegeneration and Cancer Website
Hummels, Kate
Kate Hummels Assistant Professor, Microbiology Department Our work focuses on understanding the regulation of cell envelope biosynthesis in bacteria using genetic, biochemical, and cell biological approaches. Website
Kanthasamy, Anumantha G.
Anumantha G. Kanthasamy John H. "Johnny" Isakson Chair and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar Professor, Physiology & Pharmacology Department Director, Center for Neurological Disease Research Research focuses on cellular and molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration, identifying novel druggable targets, discovering prodromal biomarkers and novel reengineered gut microbiome based therapeutics for treatment of neurological disorders such as …
Kanthasamy, Arthi
Arthi Kanthasamy Professor, Physiology & Pharmacology Department Research focuses on cellular and molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration, identifying novel immunomodulatory drugs, discovering biomarkers for diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases related dementia. Website
Kennedy, Eileen
Eileen Kennedy Professor Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences Chemical biology, kinase signaling, cancer, signal transduction, drug discovery. Website
Kyle, Dennis
Dennis Kyle Professor GRA Eminent Scholar Chair in Antiparasitic Drug Discovery Cellular Biology & Infectious Diseases The discovery and development of new drugs to prevent or treat malaria and diseases caused by brain-eating amoebae. Elucidating mechanism(s) of resistance and discovering new drug treatment regimens, combinations, or strategies to overcome resistance. Website
Liu, Dexi
Dexi Liu Professor Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences; Neuroscience Gene therapy, obesity, drug delivery, gene drug discovery. Website
Momany, Cory
Cory Momany Associate Professor Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences X-ray crystallography of macromolecules, prokaryotic transcriptional regulators. Website
Moreno, Silvia
Silvia Moreno Distinguished Research Professor Cellular Biology, Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases Metabolism and drug development against protozoan parasites. Calcium signaling and storage in Toxoplasma gondii. Website
Tompkins, S. Mark
S. Mark Tompkins Professor Infectious Diseases; Toxicology Transmission and pathogenicity of zoonotic influenza virus infection and development of vaccination and the prevention and treatment of viral infections. Website
Trent, M. Stephen
M. Stephen Trent UGA Foundation Distinguished Professor Infectious Diseases Characterizing the assembly of bacterial surface structures, Development of vaccines for viral and bacterial pathogens, Systems approaches to understanding microbial diseases Website
VanDrisse, Chelsey
Chelsey VanDrisse Assistant Professor, Genetics Department Our lab seeks to uncover novel regulatory mechanisms of biofilm formation to undermine bacterial survival in chronic infections. Website
Weiss, Ryan
Ryan Weiss Assistant Professor Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Complex Carbohydrate Research Center Investigating the regulatory mechanisms of glycosylation using genomic, chemical, and genetic approaches with particular focus on the discovery of novel drugs and targets to treat human diseases. Website
White, Catherine
Catherine White Associate Professor Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences; Toxicology The influence of gender on the disposition of drugs and drug carriers, and their subsequent therapeutic or toxic outcomes, and the physiological-based pharmacokinetic modeling for utilization in predicting toxicity and exposures. Website
Xie, Jin
Jin Xie Associate Professor Chemistry Nanoparticle-based imaging and drug delivery; radiation therapy and photodynamic therapy Website
Xie, Zhong-Ru (Paul)
Zhong-Ru (Paul) Xie Assistant Professor Bioinformatics Computational drug discovery, simulation model, new computational tools for drug design Website
Xiong, May
May Xiong Associate Professor Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences Biomaterial-based systems in the area of iron chelation therapy, biological metal sensors, overcoming antibiotic drug resistance in Gram-negative bacteria, and chelation of transfusional iron overload. Website
Yin, Hang
Hang Yin Assistant professor Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Stem cell biology, brown fat development and induction, non-coding RNA, development of novel therapies for human obesity and type 2 diabetes Website
Zastre, Jason
Jason Zastre Associate Professor Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences; Toxicology Transport, micronutrient, hypoxia, cancer. Website
Zeltner, Nadja
Nadja Zeltner Assistant Professor Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Cellular Biology; Neuroscience Effects of pathological stress on cells of the peripheral nervous system and the adrenal gland. In vitro disease modeling using human pluripotent stem cells. Website
Zheng, Y. George
Y. George Zheng Professor Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Scholar Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences Drug Development, Chemical Biology, Cancer Disease Mechanism, Epigenetics and Genetics, Histone Modifications, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Enzymology, and Biophysics. Website