Principles of Drug Design
16:663:502 for graduate students / 30:715:452 for pharmacy students
Syllabus and Lecture Schedule (will be updated soon, new class time in Spring 2026; Tuesdays and Thursdays: 4:10 – 5:30 PM, PH 288)
Faculty
-
Dr. Longqin Hu (Course coordinator)
“Drug Discovery, Lead Optimization Approaches, Enzymes, Receptors, Prodrug Design, and Combinatorial Chemistry” -
Dr. Vlad Kholodovych (Rutgers Office of Advanced Research Computing)
“Computer Aided Drug Design (CADD)”
-
Dr. Youyi Peng (Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey)
“Computer Aided Drug Design (CADD)”
Invited Seminar Speakers
Date |
Seminar speakers |
Company |
Seminar title |
| Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024 | Dr. Nick Meanwell | Formerly, BMS | Applications of Bioisosteres in Drug Design |
| Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024 | Dr. Nick Meanwell | Formerly, BMS | Applications of Fluorines in Drug Design |
| Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024 | Dr. Sam Chackalamannil | Merck | Discovery of Vorapaxar – A New Antiplatelet Agent |
| Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024 | Dr. Alaric Dyckman | BMS | Discovery of Afimetoran, a Small Molecule Dual Antagonist of Toll-like Receptor 7 and 8 (TLR7/8) for the Treatment of Lupus |
| Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 | Dr. Peter T.W. Cheng | BMS | Discovery of the LPA1 Antagonist BMS-986278 for the Treatment of Fibrosis (IPF/PPF) |
| Thursday, Mar. 7, 2024 | Dr. Zhoupeng Zhang | AstraZeneca | Metabolic ID and Profiling in Drug Design |
| Thursday, Apr. 18, 2024 | Dr. Harold B Wood | Merck | Discovery of MK-0616, a Novel Orally Active Tricyclic Peptide PCSK9 Inhibitor to Lower LDL Cholesterol |
| Tuesday, Apr. 23, 2024 | Dr. Lou Lombardo and Dr. Zhicai Shi |
Janssen, JNJ | Innovative Chemistry Capabilities in Current Drug Discovery Paradigm |
| Thursday, Apr. 25, 2024 | Dr. Ray Bakhtiar | Organon & Co. | Monoclonal, Antibody-drug Conjugates & Peptide Therapeutics |
Times and Location
- Tuesdays and Thursdays: 4:10 – 5:30 PM, PH 288 (This is the new class time in Spring 2026)
Examinations
- A term paper or minireview, computational project(s) and one exam
Grading
Term paper on a drug target with 5 drug design principles or a minireview article for potential publication in Med. Chem. Res. 20% Exam on approaches to drug discovery (analog design), enzymes, receptors, prodrugs, and combinatorial chemistry 40% Computational project(s) 35% Class/seminar attendance and participation 5% Total 100%
Minireview articles published by students taking the Drug Design course previously
- Ryan L. Bassett†, Giovanni Gallo†, Kim-Phuong N. Le*, Lucio R. Volino Bexagliflozin: a comprehensive review of a recently approved SGLT2 inhibitor for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Med. Chem. Res. 2024, 33(8), 1354-67. Full Text: PDF (Open access)
- Twinkle I. Patel‡, Jay N. Joshi§, Alexander J. Valvezan, Matthew J. Moschitto* A review of trilaciclib, a first-in-class cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitor, for the management of metastatic small-cell lung cancer. Med. Chem. Res. 2024, 33(10), 1757-68. Full Text: PDF (Open access)
- Ryan P. Joyce‡, Vivian W. Hu§, Jun Wang* The history, mechanism, and perspectives of nirmatrelvir (PF-07321332): an orally bioavailable main protease inhibitor used in combination with ritonavir to reduce COVID-19-related hospitalizations. Med. Chem. Res. 2022, 31(10), 1637-46. Full Text: PDF|Full-Text View Only Public Link
- Jun Wang‡, Daniel Lam§, Jeffrey Yang‡, Longqin Hu* Discovery of mobocertinib, a new irreversible tyrosine kinase inhibitor indicated for the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer harboring EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations. Med. Chem. Res. 2022, 31(10), 1647-62. Full Text: PDF|Full-Text View Only Public Link
(† PharmD Student; ‡ Graduate Student; § MD student, * corresponding author)
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