Alexander D. MacKerell, Jr., Ph.D.
Institutional Affiliation:
Goldman-Glick Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Director Computer-Aided Drug Design Center
University of Maryland
http://www2.pharmacy.umaryland.edu/faculty/amackere/
Member of the Program in Experimental Therapeutics
Greenebaum Cancer Center
University of Maryland, Baltimore
http://data.umms.org/scripts/research/umgcc_researcher_view2.cfm?lastname=222
Education
Gloucester County College, A.S.
University of Hawaii, Honolulu, B.S.
Rutgers University, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Work
Department of Medical Biophysics – Karolinska Institutet Stockholm, Sweden
Research
Computer-Aided Drug Design
Impact
Application of computational chemistry and biophysics to more rapidly and efficiently identify and optimize novel chemical compounds for the treatment of cancer and other diseases.
Summary of Research
Computer-aided drug design involves the application of models to understand how the shape and properties of chemicals are responsible for the ability to act as drugs. By apply computational methods it is possible to identify new chemicals that may be developed into drugs for a wide range of diseases including cancer. In addition, computer-based methods may be used to predict how to change the structural of the chemical to improve its potential for becoming a drug that may be used to treat patients. In our research we collaborate with synthetic chemists that make the drug molecules that the computational methods predict and with biological scientists that test the activity of the drugs. This combination significantly diminishes the time required for the development of new drugs, thereby leading to lower costs and bringing drugs to patients in shorter times. |
