The BSI NeuroTranslational Program was created with the mission of identifying novel drug targets arising from JHU faculty’s research and translating them into new drug therapies for neurological disorders. To accomplish this, BSI has taken the practical approach of complementing Hopkins’ strengths in basic research with seasoned pharmaceutical professionals who have decades’ worth of experience in drug discovery and early stage development. The NeuroTranslational staff has expertise in medicinal chemistry, assay development, animal pharmacology, and the conduct of IND-enabling preclinical studies. The NeuroTranslational Program’s scientists will work hand-in-hand with faculty interested in translational medicine to create dedicated, multidisciplinary project teams. These teams will work collaboratively to obtain funding and progress targets through the drug discovery and pre-clinical development process. The data packages arising from this work will enhance out licensing and new venture opportunities. Raising the bar of medical excellence through an interdisciplinary education is a hallmark of the Johns Hopkins community. The NeuroTranslational core staff, with breadth of industrial pharmaceutical expertise, will also participate in this tradition by providing drug discovery educational opportunities for faculty, staff, and students at Hopkins.
Modern drug discovery requires the integration of numerous complementary technologies to advance from target identification to the selection of a clinical drug candidate. The program is developing its capabilities through the hiring of faculty leaders each with ten to twenty years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry to assemble a skilled and motivated team with a collaborative spirit and aggressive goals. The following highlights the capabilities of the BSI NeuroTranslational Program staff: - Medicinal Chemistry expertise including hit identification, hit-to-lead selection and lead optimization
- Design, synthesis, purification, and characterization of small molecule drug candidates
- High throughput screening assay development
- Receptor pharmacology
- Enzyme kinetics and mechanisms
- Primary cell culture and establishment of cell lines
- Preclinical toxicology
- Drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics
- IND enabling preclinical studies
- FDA regulatory filing
- Intellectual property creation
The NeuroTranslational Program will be located in the John J. Rangos Building in the new Science and Technology Park adjacent to the JHU East Baltimore campus. The Program will move into approximately 4,000 square feet of state of the art laboratory space in the fall of 2009. The new facility will include two 800-square foot chemistry laboratories, each of which will have four 10-foot fume hoods. The facility also includes a dedicated biology laboratory and a separate equipment room.
Future home of the BSI NeuroTranslational Program
John J. Rangos Building
855 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore MD 21205
Jeffrey D. Rothstein, M.D., Ph.D.
The BSI NeuroTranslational Program is lead by Dr. Jeffrey Rothstein who is a Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience, and a faculty member of the Graduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. He is the Director of the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins, Co-Director of the MDA/ALS Clinic, and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Neurology. He oversees one of the largest ALS clinics in the USA.
In 1990 Dr. Slusher received her Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and a Master's degree in Management from the Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business. Over the past 18 years, she has had a highly accomplished drug discovery career in the pharmaceutical industry holding positions of increasing responsibility at both large and small companies including ICI Pharmaceuticals, Zeneca (now Astra-Zeneca), Guilford Pharmaceuticals, MGI Pharma, and the Eisai Research Institute. For the past 10 years she has operated at the Senior Vice President level responsible for the strategic direction and supervision of a multi-site Research and Translational Development department of 80+ scientists. She was responsible for overseeing drug discovery through Phase I/IIa development and participated in multiple FDA meetings and both IND and NDA regulatory filings. In September 2009, Dr. Slusher will join the BSI NeuroTranslational Center to lead its drug discovery efforts.
Dr. Tsukamoto received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1993 and pursued postdoctoral studies in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Michigan. Over the past 12 years, Dr. Tsukamoto has held a variety of leadership positions in the pharmaceutical industry including Guilford Pharmaceuticals, MGI Pharma, and the Eisai Research Institute, where he most recently served as the Director of Medicinal Chemistry. Dr. Tsukamoto has extensive drug discovery experience in modulating glutamatergic neurotransmission for the treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Dr. Tsukamoto was involved in the discovery of two investigational drugs currently in development for the treatment of neurological disorders and cancer. In 2009, Dr. Tsukamoto joined the Johns Hopkins Brain Science Institute NeuroTranslational program as the Director of Chemistry and Intellectual Property with the primary mission of translating discoveries in basic science at Johns Hopkins into novel therapeutics.
Dr. Ferraris received his Ph.D. degree in chemistry from Johns Hopkins University in 1999 and his M.B.A. from Carey Business School in 2009. Over the past 10 years, Dr. Ferraris has held a variety of leadership positions in the pharmaceutical industry at Guilford Pharmaceuticals, MGI Pharma, and the Eisai Research Institute, where he most recently served as a Principal Scientist in Medicinal Chemistry. Dr. Ferraris has extensive drug discovery experience in oncology and CNS disorders. Dr. Ferraris’ research efforts have resulted in two investigational drugs currently in development for the treatment of cancer. Dr. Ferraris joined Johns Hopkins University as a Principal Scientist in Medicinal Chemistry in 2009. He oversees medicinal chemistry activities at the Brain Science Institute’s NeuroTranslational program with a primary mission of translating discoveries in basic science into novel therapeutics.
Camilo Rojas received a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the area of enzyme kinetics and mechanism. He subsequently held post doctoral positions at the University of Umeå, Sweden and at the Medical College of Pennsylvania. Dr. Rojas has over 18 years of corporate pharmaceutical experience at Rhône Poulenc Rorer, Guilford Pharmaceuticals, MGI Pharma and the Eisai Research Institute where he has most recently served as the Director of the Biochemistry Department. His expertise includes development of enzymatic and receptor binding assays as well as drug mechanistic studies at the cell and molecular levels. He has served as a project leader, coordinating multidisciplinary research programs through target proposal, assay development, high throughput screening, lead nomination, lead optimization and clinical candidate selection. In September 2009, Dr. Rojas will join the BSI NeuroTranslational Center as the Director of Assay Development.
Dr. Sattler graduated from the University of Toronto, Canada (M.Sc. and Ph.D.) where she received the Governor General’s Gold Medal for highest academic standing at the graduate level at the University of Toronto. She then completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University in the Department of Neuroscience. In 2004, Dr. Sattler joined the Department of Neurology at Johns Hopkins University to lead the CNS drug discovery program of Ruxton Pharmaceuticals Inc. (currently Psyadon Pharmaceuticals Inc.). Here she gained extensive experience in early drug discovery including the development of a CNS biomarker. In 2008, Dr. Sattler accepted a position as Principal Scientist I in Assay Development at the Brain Science Institute NeuroTranslational program. Her scientific interests are focused on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of glutamate-mediated neuronal signaling under physiological and pathological conditions.
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