{"id":21643,"date":"2019-06-19T14:42:38","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T21:42:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sop.washington.edu\/?p=21643"},"modified":"2019-06-21T15:46:24","modified_gmt":"2019-06-21T22:46:24","slug":"nath-faculty-innovation-award-leads-to-student-publications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staff.washington.edu\/twentzel\/wordpress\/nath-faculty-innovation-award-leads-to-student-publications\/","title":{"rendered":"Nath Faculty Innovation Award leads to student publications"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Abhi
Abhi Nath, ’08, and Medicinal Chemistry graduate student Eleanor Vane discuss their current research Photo: Alex Levine<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2018, Abhi Nath<\/strong>, \u201908, was named recipient one of that year\u2019s UWSOP Faculty Innovation Awards. The awards\u00a0provide financial support of up to $20,000 each for high-risk, innovative research projects.<\/p>\n

Abhi proposed to look at new ways to predict how the body metabolizes biologics, also known as \u201clarge-molecule\u201d drugs or protein-based therapeutics. These drugs display immense potential in the treatment of many challenging forms of cancer, autoimmune disorders, and infectious and degenerative diseases. However, a major hurdle to their development is a lack of understanding of the factors that govern their pharmacokinetics and disposition.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe don\u2019t yet recognize the \u2018flags\u2019 that indicate that a given large molecule may behave problematically or unpredictably, as we do for conventional small molecule drugs.\u201d \u2014Abhi Nath,\u00a0Assistant Professor of\u00a0Medicinal Chemistry<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This knowledge gap makes the development of biologics challenging, increasing the time and costs to bring these promising medications to market. By using a combination of biophysical measurements and machine learning analyses, the team anticipated they would shed new light on the disposition of protein-based therapeutics, and give trainees hands-on experience in modern data science techniques.<\/p>\n

\"Dennis<\/p>\n

Thus far, the UWSOP Faculty Innovation Award has led to one\u00a0publication by Medicinal Chemistry PhD graduate student\u00a0Dennis Goulet,<\/strong> former Magnuson Scholar and first recipient of the Scott Grimm Fellowship<\/strong>. Dennis is first author on, “Toward a Combinatorial Approach for the Prediction of IgG Half-Life and Clearance<\/a>” in ASPET’s Drug Metabolism and Disposition<\/em>. The paper’s co-authors include\u00a0Michael J. Watson,\u00a0William M. Atkins,\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Abhinav Nath<\/strong>, all from the UWSOP Department of Medicinal Chemistry, as well as colleagues from Janssen Research & Development.<\/p>\n

In addition, Medicinal Chemistry PhD graduate student\u00a0Hayli Larsen\u00a0<\/strong>will present work enabled by the award at the Protein\u00a0Society Annual Meeting in Seattle this summer.<\/p>\n

Past recipients of the Faculty Innovation Award include:<\/p>\n