Medicinal Chemistry Concentration (PhD only)
Medicinal Chemistry is a discipline on the Edwardsville campus that encompasses organic chemistry and computational chemistry (molecular modeling) in order to design compounds with therapeutic potential. Students become experts in carrying out synthetic schemes and gaining a deeper understanding of biochemical pathways pertaining to their research project. Computational chemistry sits at the intersection of chemistry, biology and computer science. It aims to rationally design new chemical structures as potential medicines by visualizing how they bind the receptors or as improvements of currently available therapies. The Concentration of Medicinal Chemistry awards PhD degrees which can lead to employment in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, software companies, and academia.
Contact:
Maria Kontoyianni, PhD
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Edwardsville, IL
| Research mentors | Research area |
|---|---|
| Michael Crider, PhD | Synthetic medicinal chemistry, somatostatin non-peptides, sigma-2 ligands |
| Maria Kontoyianni, PhD | Virtual screening, structure- and ligand-based molecular design, hybrid computational approaches toward drug discovery |
| Marcelo Nieto, PhD | Drug design and synthesis of rationally focused libraries for diverse therapeutic areas (antimicrobial, anticancer, pain, etc.) |
| Bhargav Patel, PhD | Discovery of anti-cancer agents as well as compounds for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases |