Research Areas

Focus on small molecule drug discovery in cancer, metabolic and cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative disorders. Development and application of modern medicinal chemistry tools to achieve pre-clinical candidate (PCC), investigational new drug (IND) application, and clinical candidate.

Highlights

Prior to Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, worked on AI and quantum computing-aided drug design at Silicon Therapeutics, which was acquired by Roivant Sciences in 2021 for $450 million with additional potential regulatory and commercial milestone payments.  At GSK, contributed to DNA-Encoded Library (DEL) technology and applications to hits identification medicinal chemistry programs.  At Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard, developed high-throughput chemistry to achieve Diversity-Oriented Synthesis (DOS) library containing more than 100K novel molecules; collaborated with pharmaceutical partners to deliver novel therapies from bench side to bed side.  As postdoc at Harvard University, discovered the first stereoselective four-component reaction（4CR）as the second 4CR in chemistry history.  During Harvard and Broad Institute tenure, applied and executed on federal funding grants with total amount greater than $100 million.

Selected Publications 

1. “A Potent and Selective Quinoxalinone-Based STK33 Inhibitor Does Not Show Synthetic Lethality in KRAS Dependent Cells” M. Weiwer, J. Spoonamore, J. Wei, B. Guichard, N. Ross, K. Masson, W. Silkworth, S. Dandapani, M. Palmer, C. Sherer, A. Stern, S. Schreiber, B, Munoz, ACS Med. Chem. Lett., 2012, 3, 1034-1038.

2. “An Aldol-Based Build/Couple/Pair Strategy for the Synthesis of Medium- and Large-Sized Rings: Discovery of Macrocyclic Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors.” L. A. Marcaurelle, E. Comer^†, S. Dandapani^†, J. R. Duvall^†, B. Gerard^†, S. Kesavan^†, M. D. Lee^†, H. Liu^†, J. T. Lowe^†, J. Marie^†, C. A. Mulrooney^†, B. A. Pandya^†, A. Rowley^†, T. D. Ryba^†, B. Suh^†, J. Wei^†, D. W. Young^†, L. B. Akella, N.T. Ross, Y. Zhang, D. M. Fass, S. A. Reis, W. Zhao, S. J. Haggarty, M. Palmer, and M. A. Foley, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2010, 132, 16962-16976. (^†indicates that authorship was assigned alphabetically)

3. “Accessing Skeletal Diversity Using Catalyst Control: Formation of n and n + 1 Macrocyclic Triazole Rings.” A. R. Kelly, J. Wei, S. Kesavan, J. Marie, N. Windmon, D. W. Young, L. A. Marcaurelle, Org. Lett., 2009, 11, 2257-2260.

4. “Hypericum in Infection: Identification of Anti-viral and Anti-inflammatory Constituents.” D. F. Birt, M. P. Widrlechner, K. D. Hammer, M. L. Hillwig, J. Wei, G. A. Kraus, P. A. Murphy, J. A. McCoy, E. S. Wurtele, J. D. Neighbors, D. F. Wiemer, W. J. Maury, J. P. Price, Pharm. Bio., 2009, 774-782.

5. “Diastereoselective Synthesis of g-Lactam by a One-Pot, Four-Component Reaction.” J. Wei, J. T. Shaw, Org. Lett., 2007, 9, 4077-4080.

Highlighted by Nature, 2007, 449, 119; reported by C&EN, 2007, 85(38), 64.