Faculty

Dr. Eyup Akgun
Research Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Office Phone: 612-625-0821
Research Interest:
Drug design, synthesis, and screening; Neuroscience, neuropharmacology and psychopharmacology
Dr. Courtney Aldrich
Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Office Phone: 612-624-7997
Research Interest:
Antibiotics, tuberculosis, synthesis, enzymology
Elizabeth Ambrose headshot
Associate Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Office Phone: 612-626-2387
Research Interest:
Biological and chemical warfare agent mitigation; BSL-2, BSL-3 and select agent research; Homeland security; High-throughput and fragment screening, lead optimization; Psychiatric pharmacy and neuropharmacology
Narsihmulu Cheryala
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Office Phone: 612-626-6350
Research Interest:
Organic and medicinal chemistry
Peter I. Dosa
Associate Program Director, Medicinal Chemistry, Institute for Therapeutics Discovery and Development (ITDD)
Office Phone: 612-625-7948
Research Interest:
Drug discovery, prodrugs, GPCRs, clostridium difficile, serotonin and dopamine receptors
Adam Duerfeldt
Associate Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Office Phone: 612-624-6184
Research Interest:
PPAR modulation, antibacterial discovery, clostridium difficile, medicinal chemistry, organic synthesis
David M. Ferguson
Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Office Phone: 612-626-2601
Research Interest:
Quantum mechanics, molecular mechanics/dynamics, computer graphics techniques, molecular interactions, investigation of inter- and intramolecular interactions to gain insight for drug design and protein engineering
Dr. Gunda Georg 2024
Regents Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Office Phone: 612-626-6320
Research Interest:
Design, synthesis, and evaluation of synthetic and natural product-derived medicinal agents; drug discovery by HTS; new synthetic methods; combinatorial chemistry. Therapeutic areas: cancer, male contraception, Alzheimer's disease.
Vadim J. Gurvich
Research Associate Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Office Phone: 612-626-5294
Research Interest:
Drug discovery, drug synthesis, drug development, synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry
Daniel A. Harki
Northrop Professor and Margaret Harvey Schering Land Grant Chair for Cancer Research
Office Phone: 612-625-8687
Research Interest:
Synthesis, biophysical characterization, and biological efficacy evaluation of novel small molecules that influence cellular function. Applications for these molecules range from anticancer drug discovery to new tools for modern biotechnology research.
Haskell-Luevano Group
Professor & Philip S. Portoghese Endowed Chair in Chemical Neuroscience, Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Office Phone: 612-626-9262
Research Interest:
Peptide chemistry, medicinal chemistry, G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) pharmacology, human receptor polymorphisms, neuroscience, voluntary exercise of mice, obesity, diabetes, feeding behavior
Bellamri Madjda
Research Assistant Professor, College of Pharmacy
Research Interest:
Dr. W. Thomas Shier
Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Office Phone: 612-624-9465
Research Interest:
Development of novel non-viral vector transfection agents for use in human gene therapy, strategies for eliminating carcinogenic and estrogenic mycotoxins from the human food supply, exploration of the drug potential of betulins and other natural products
S.S. Syeda, PhD
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Office Phone: 612-626-6864
Research Interest:
Multi-step synthesis, natural products-based drug design, contract research, development of medicinal chemistry strategies and execution of tactics to generate lead molecules
Dr. Natalia Tretyakova
Distinguished McKnight University Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Office Phone: 612-626-3432
Research Interest:
Structural basis for promutagenic and anticancer activity of DNA-modifying agents, DNA damage by tobacco carcinogens and lung cancer, DNA-DNA and DNA-protein cross-linking agents as carcinogens and drugs,DNA oxidation by endogenous reactive oxygen species
turesky
Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Office Phone: 612-626-0141
Research Interest:
Cancer, carcinogens, metabolism, biomarkers, mass spectrometry
Peter Villalta
Research Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Office Phone: 612-626-8165
Research Interest:
Development of comprehensive methodologies for the assessment of DNA damage and trace level detection of exogenous substances in human samples using advanced mass spectrometry
Carston R. Wagner
Distinguished Teaching Professor & Department Head, Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Office Phone: 612-625-2614
Research Interest:
Chemical Biology, design and development of targeted drug delivery approaches, design and study of chemical inducers of protein oligomerization, mechanistic and structural studies of biocatalyis and protein translation
Mike Walters, PhD
Research Associate Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Office Phone: 347-313-8944
Research Interest:
Medicinal chemistry, drug development, hit-to-lead
Henry Wong Headshot
Research Associate Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Office Phone: 612-626-6323
Research Interest:
Immunology and inflammation drug discovery & development, oncology drug discovery & development, PK/PD animal disease models, development of cell-based assays