Cardiovascular diseases, including
thrombosis, dyslipidemia, arrhythmia, hypertension, metabolic
disorder, diabetes, heart failure and numerous other conditions,
are the primary cause of significant morbidity and mortality
in the world. The impact of cardiovascular diseases is expected
to rise in geometric proportions as life expectancy rises,
in both economically advanced and economically challenged
countries. Addressing current and future cardiovascular diseases
involves a multifaceted approach including understanding physiologic
mechanisms at molecular and cellular levels, designing agonists/antagonists
using computational, combinatorial, traditional structure-activity
relationship-based or natural products-based approaches, and
investigating pharmacological and toxicological effects of
potential drugs through in vitro and in vivo systems. The
Cardiovascular Discovery Track at the Second International
Conference on Drug Discovery and Therapy will provide an outstanding
avenue for the disclosure of recent results in target identification
and optimization, lead identification and optimization, and
initial results in animal and human studies to an international
audience representing basic and clinical scientists from academia,
industry, government, and business organizations.
Umesh R.
Desai
Virginia Commonwealth University
VA, US
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| | Dr.
Desai received his BSc in Chemistry in 1983 from M. S. University
of Baroda, MSc (1985) and PhD (1991) in Organic Chemistry
from the Indian Institute of Technology – Bombay, India
under Professor G. K. Trivedi. He then gained postdoctoral
experience under Professor R. J. Linhardt at University of
Iowa and Professor Alexander M. Klibanov at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. In 1994, Dr. Desai returned to his
alma mater as a faculty member in the Department of Biotechnology.
In 1996, he took up an American Heart Association funded position
at the University of Illinois – Chicago under the supervision
of Professor Steven T. Olson. Following two years of work
at UIC-Chicago on the mechanism of heparin activation of antithrombin,
he moved to his current place in the Department of Medicinal
Chemistry, Virginia Commonwealth University, where he rose
through the ranks to become a full professor in 2007. At VCU,
he has built a strong multi-disciplinary, cardiovascular drug
discovery program with a focus on designing small and large
non-saccharide mimetics of heparin. During this time he has
fostered a creative environment for students and postdoctoral
researchers to implement a modern drug discovery program based
on computational chemistry, synthetic organic chemistry, mechanistic
biochemistry, enzymology and animal studies. Dr. Desai is
an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association
and has received the 2003 VCU Faculty Research Award.
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| Scientific Contributions: Include
over 65 research publications, several book chapters, patents
and invention disclosures, and numerous invited lectures.
Scientific and Professional Activities: Include Editorial
or Editorial Advisory Board member of journals including 'Current
Chemical Biology', 'Open Journal of Medicinal Chemistry',
'Chemistry and Biodiversity', etc. Professional memberships
include the American Chemical Society, American Association
of Advancement of Science, and American Society for Biochemistry
and Molecular Biology.
Academic Appointments: Professor of Medicinal Chemistry
at Virginia Commonwealth University, Interim Director of the
Institute for Structural Biology and Drug Discovery, and Fellow
of the Center for the Study of Biological Complexity. |
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