by Kathleen Malloy
SCIENCE HALL— Rowan University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean Parviz Ansari, PhD, proudly kicked off the Dean’s Distinguished Lecture Series Friday, Jan 29 with the “Innovation in Drug Discovery” seminar.
“The goal of the series is to provide students with the opportunity to tie in coursework with their potential careers,” said Ansari. “We want to bring in easy-to-talk-to professionals and to help students find their way out of the university when they leave.”
Catherine Yang, chair of the chemistry and biochemistry department, introduced Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) Senior Vice President Dr. Carl Decicco, a twenty-year veteran of the pharmaceutical engineering industry. Decicco’s presentation, entitled “The Discovery of Apixaban: A Next Generation Oral Anti-Coagulant,” focused on the importance of creativity and innovation within the acquisition of new drug pharmacology.
“It’s one thing to have factual knowledge, and it’s another to be creative and innovative,” Decicco said. “We’ve trained ourselves to be more efficient as humans, but a lot of science is about seeing things that are right in front of you.”
The seminar focused on how contemporary medical research institutes the mechanistic approach to discovering new clinical therapies for human consumption. Through utilizing computer-assisted chemical compounds with pharmacological properties, investigators are able to engage in small molecule discovery and chemical synthesis.
“Drug solution analysis is an unknown goal,” continued Decicco. “It’s not like rocket science where there is a clear goal of going to the moon and back.”
Decicco demonstrated that in order to find adequate inhibitors for anti-coagulants for medicinal therapy, researchers profile chemical properties contingent upon receptors, enzymes, ion chemicals and proteins. Moreover, he shed light on the fact that only after potential drugs have been thoroughly examined through synthetic analysis are therapies then tested using animal models.
“We have an astounding guest scholar and professional, and we’re very excited to have him in the lecture series,” said Ansari. “I’m very impressed with the turnout today. We’re grateful for the opportunity to have an exchange of ideas for the community.”
An active professional, Decicco continues to lead strategic clinical candidates through late-stage testing for both Bristol Myers Squibb and DuPont Pharmaceuticals. He also participates in the Research and Development Executive Committee for BMS.
Students had a positive response to the first of what will hopefully become an annual Dean’s Distinguished Lecture Series.
“I’m taking an advanced class in cancer research and this pretty much covers what we went over in class,” stated upperclassman chemistry major Mariama Ashman. “He was very good with summarizing what goes into research that takes years to make a drug marketable.”
Michael Akume, a dual economics and radio/TV/film major, felt Deccico connected on the public speaking side and offered a very good presentation.
“I thought it was great,” said biochemistry major Justin Coe. “It was very informative. Having upper-level coursework, it helped tie in a lot and shows you what you can do with your degree.”
Three more seminars remain in the series planned for the spring 2010 semester, ranging from mathematics to history. Anyone wanting more information can contact Kristen DiNovi, assistant dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at dinovi@rowan.edu.
