Drug Discovery Core Administration

Yuri K. Peterson, Ph.D.
Director

Dr. Peterson’s research focus is in applied pharmacologic sciences using in vitro, cell based, and in silico approaches to quantitate protein and small molecule functionality to bridge between chemical biology and pathobiology. He has experience in the experimental biology and computational modeling of protein-protein interactions, protein-ligand interactions, and hormone signaling. His research efforts have included the study of arrestins, the cytoskeleton, GPCRs, G-proteins, scaffolding proteins (like RGS and AGS G-protein regulators), prenyltransferases, methyltransferases, deacetylases, kinases, a variety of lipid binding proteins, mitochondria, and endosomes. Highlight innovations from the Peterson group include the discovery and therapeutic utility (Tat-GPR) of guanine nucleotide dissociation inhibitors, software to analyze endosome kinetics (DotQuanta), the discovery of Gi-alpha suppression in the majority of ovarian cancer patients, and methodologies to optimize virtual screening for drug discovery. Dr. Peterson’s research focus is on the application of high-content microscopy to study cellular protein kinetics, predictive bioinformatics, and targeting a variety of clinical targets.

Publications of Yuri Karl Peterson, PhD
Impact of Yuri Karl Peterson, PhD

Monika B. Gooz, M.D., Ph.D.
Biomedical Imaging

Dr. Gooz earned her MD and PhD degrees at the Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary, and completed her Fellowships at the Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, at the University of Oulu, Finland, and at MUSC. Dr Gooz is a member of several organizations including the American Physiological Society and the International Nephrology Society. She serves on the editorial board of the American Journal of Physiology: Renal Physiology, and is a special editor of The American Journal of Medical Sciences.

Ivett P. Gomez, Ph.D.
Chemical Synthesis & Lead Optimization