Smissman lecturer Craig Lindsley to discuss drug discovery in an academic environment


LAWRENCE — World-renowned pharmaceutical researcher Craig Lindsley of Vanderbilt University will deliver the 2018 Edward E. Smissman Memorial Lectures, describing his work at the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery (VCNDD).

Lindsley is a professor of pharmacology, biochemistry and chemistry at Vanderbilt University and holds the William K. Warren Jr. Chair in Medicine. He is the co-founder and co-director of the VCNDD and the director of medicinal chemistry and drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics for the center. He is also the founding editor-in-chief of the scientific journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience.

Lindsley will present a public lecture broadly accessible to nonspecialists titled “Bedside to Bench and Back Again – Drug Discovery within the VCNDD” at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 20 in Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union. The 2018 Smissman Memorial Lectures Medal winner will also deliver two scientific lectures, "Allosteric Modulation of Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptors” at 9:30 a.m. Sept. 20 at Alderson Auditorium and "The Rebirth of mGlu1 for the Treatment of Schizophrenia” at 10 a.m. Sept. 21 in Ballroom D at the Burge Union. All lectures are free and open to the public.

Lindsley has received numerous awards, including the ASPET-Astellas Award for Translational Pharmacology in 2010, the John J. Abel Award in Pharmacology in 2014 and the Pharmacia-ASPET Award in Experimental Therapeutics in 2016. He was named a Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher from 2015-2017. In 2016, he made the Reuters list of “World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds” and was named an American Association for the Advancement of Science fellow.

Lindsley holds more than 72 issued U.S. patents and has published more than 400 manuscripts. As co-founder and co-director of the VCNDD, Lindsley has raised more than $150 million in licensing and research support from the National Institutes of Health as well as various foundations and pharmaceutical companies. The VCNDD team has licensed programs to several pharmaceutical companies that then entered clinical development. Further, the VCNDD team, with funding from the William K. Warren Foundation, has defined a new model for drug discovery in an academic environment by completing IND-enabling studies, IND-filing with the FDA and initiated Phase I trials at Vanderbilt University Medical Center without the assistance of a big pharma partner.

The biennial lecture series honors Edward Smissman, professor and first chair of KU’s Department of Medicinal Chemistry. Sponsored by the department and the Edward E. and Clarine F. Smissman Memorial Fund, these lectures celebrate the influence of Ed Smissman as an outstanding initiator of interdisciplinary research at KU as well as the strong positive influence of both Ed and his wife, Clare, on graduate students and colleagues.

A list of previous Smissman lecturers is available online.

Mon, 09/10/2018

author

Jackie Hosey

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Jackie Hosey

School of Pharmacy

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