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Cancer Drug Discovery
The University of South Carolina (collaborative partner) About the Center: This Center provides mechanisms for target identification and generation of lead compounds in the drug discovery process, thus creating a productive interface (currently lacking in the field) between academics and the biotechnology/pharmaceutical industries. This Center also develops research in structural biology for target analysis, chemical biology for designing drug candidates, and advanced biomedical screening technologies. The Center’s success is built upon the expertise and resources of its endowed chairs. One of these, Dr. Charles Smith, has formed a drug screening core that contains chemical libraries with 50,000 compounds. Using this screening core, Dr. Smith and another colleague identified compounds which inhibit PIM kinases enzymes which are over-expressed in cancer. An article about this discovery was published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. Dr. Smith also launched Vortex Biotechnology Corporation in 2009 to create marketable PIM protein kinase inhibitors to treat cancer. In 2009, another start-up company, SchnellGen, developed out of the work of the Center. Its mission is to develop novel therapeutics for the treatment of acute organ failure and wound healing. In 2010, a third startup company was established, MitoHealth. Chair Dr. John Lemasters is an expert in the advanced cellular technology of multiphoton confocal microscopy. His current projects center on the role of mitochondria in cell injury in cancer, heart and liver cells. The Center has received nearly $10 million in research funding. Funding level: SmartState Endowed Chairs:
View a presentation given by Dr. Charles Smith at the 2010 HEAL SC conference.
Endowed Chair Kenneth Tew (l) of the Translational Cancer Therapeutics Center and Endowed Chair Charles Smith (r) of the Cancer Drug Discovery Center inspect a liquid-handling high throughput robot component in the Drug Discovery Core at MUSC.
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