Nicholas Dp Cosford

Dr. Cosford is Professor at Sanford Burnham Medical Research Institute, La Jolla, California. His research is involved in investigating the interactions of small molecule compounds with therapeutically important proteins and cellular signaling pathways. One aspect of his research emphasizes the use of medicinal chemistry and chemical biology approaches to probe intracellular pathways that regulate cell survival and cell growth. Another area of active research is the development of synthetic chemistry methodology using microfluidic technology for the rapid synthesis of biologically active small molecules. Therapeutically, his group is primarily focused on the discovery and optimization of compounds that have the potential to treat cancer, CNS diseases and infectious diseases. He has more than 20 years of experience leading small-molecule drug discovery projects in the pharmaceutical industry. At Sibia Neurosciences and at Merck Research Laboratories he directed multidisciplinary research teams focused on small- molecule hit-to-lead optimization and was responsible for moving several lead compounds through to the clinical phase. Examples include taking a nicotinic receptor agonist (Altinicline, SIB-1508Y) from initiation of research through to Phase II clinical for PD; taking mGluR5 negative allosteric modulators from HTS hits through in vivo proof-of-concept to Phase I clinical (ongoing); and design, synthesis and optimization of an mGluR5 PET tracer clinical candidate; design, synthesis and optimization of an Akt allosteric inhibitor preclinical candidate. To date, he has published more than 55 peer reviewed scientific publications, has more than 30 issued patents, and more than 30 additional patent applications pending. In 2006 he received the FRAXA Research Foundation Award for Outstanding Contributions to Fragile X Research.