April 7, 2016

Purdue’s Low set for next Flexner Discovery Lecture

Philip Low, Ph.D., director of the Purdue Center for Drug Discovery, will deliver the next Flexner Discovery Lecture on April 14.

Philip Low, Ph.D., director of the Purdue Center for Drug Discovery, will deliver the next Flexner Discovery Lecture on April 14.

Philip Low, Ph.D.

Low’s lecture, entitled, “Ligand-targeted therapeutic and imaging agents for multiple human diseases,” will begin at 4 p.m. in room 208 Light Hall. It is sponsored by the Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology.

Low is the Ralph C. Corley Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Purdue University and a member of the National Academy of Inventors. He and his colleagues are developing methods to target treatments specifically to diseased cells and avoid collateral toxicity to healthy cells.

One of those targets is the folate receptor, which is upregulated in cancers of the ovary, lung, kidney, endometrium and breast. Clinical trials of six folate-linked drugs demonstrate that this ligand-targeting strategy holds promise for increasing drug potency while reducing unwanted toxicity.

Low earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1975 from the University of California, San Diego. He is a founder and chief science officer of Endocyte Inc., which is developing small molecule drug conjugates (SMDCs) for a range of disease indications.

For a complete schedule of the Flexner Discovery Lecture series and archived video of previous lectures, go to www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/discoveryseries.