About

The Lindsley research group at Vanderbilt University, is a unique training environment for graduate, postdoctoral, and staff researchers that focuses on 3 main areas: collaborative drug discovery, medicinal chemistry and synthetic organic chemistry (total synthesis). The state-of-the-art facility features instrumentation and technology typically found only in labs of major pharmaceutical companies and a diverse group of scientists including medicinal chemistry staff, experienced Ph.D. medicinal chemists from Big Pharma, chromatography specialist staff, and a diverse pool of graduate students pursuing Ph.D.s in Chemistry, Pharmacology and Chemical & Physical Biology.

Drug Discovery

Members of the Lab will collaborate with other members of the Molecular Pharmacology, Drug Metabolism and Behavioral Pharmacology divisions to pursue small molecule hits from high throughput screens, perform lead optimization studies to develop structure-activity-relationships (SAR) and ultimately deliver drug-like small molecules to validate novel targets & mechanisms in vivo. Key molecular targets are kinases, GPCRs, ion channels, nuclear hormone receptors with an emphasis on allosteric modulation. Therapeutic areas of interest span cancer, neuroscience (schizophrenia, anxiety, pain, sleep, Parkinson’s disease) and endocrinology (diabetes, obesity). Scientists will be exposed to every phase of classical drug discovery. As Director of Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery (WCNDD) at Vanderbilt University, training in the Lindsley Lab will be broad and involve organic synthesis, medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, drug metabolism, PET tracers for imaging studies, and assay development.

Medicinal Chemistry

The Lindsley Lab utilizes parallel synthesis and the development of new technologies for library synthesis. The Lab employs state-of-the-art microwave synthesis technology, automated normal and reverse phase chromatography, analytical and preparative chiral HPLC employing supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC), and a massive collection of chemical building blocks. Numerous projects are directed at synthesizing small molecule matrix libraries to inform SAR and improve physicochemical properties such as LogD, tPSA, and solubility while improving DMPK parameters such as microsomal clearance and plasma protein binding.

Synthetic Organic Chemistry

Postdoctoral scholars in the Lab pursue novel synthetic methodology development, total synthesis of natural products (as well as natural product analogs for drug discovery work) and academic medicinal chemistry projects to round out their training in drug discovery and create publication opportunities.