Philip Low
Presidential Scholar for Drug Discovery & Ralph C. Corley Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Purdue University Purdue University
Dr. Philip S. Low is the Presidential Scholar for Drug Discovery and the RC Corley Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Purdue University, where he directs a lab of 35 graduate students/postdocs and 50 undergraduate researchers. Dr. Low has devoted 45 years to designing novel imaging and therapeutic agents for the diagnosis and treatment of human diseases. He has published 550 scientific articles that have earned an H-index of 125 and has 700 patents/patents pending. Fifteen drugs from Low’s lab have entered human clinical trials, one of which (Cytalux) was approved by the FDA following expedited review in November 2021, a second (Pluvicto; 177Lu-PSMA-617) was approved following receipt of “Breakthrough Therapy Status” by the FDA on March 22, 2022, and a third (Locametz) received approval by the FDA in March 2022. Low has co-founded 7 companies (Endocyte, OnTarget Laboratories, Umoja Biopharma, Morphimmune, Novosteo, Eradivir and ErythroCure) to commercialize his discoveries and has recently formed and funded the Low Institute for Therapeutics (LIFT) to accelerate the transfer of his most promising discoveries into human clinical trials. In recognition of his contributions, Low has been recognized with multiple national and international awards, including the American Association for Cancer Research’s Award for Chemistry in Cancer Research, the American Chemical Society’s Award for Cancer Research (Sosnovsky Award), the American Chemical Society’s Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest (Esselen Award), the Alfred Burger Award in Medicinal Chemistry, the National Academy of Inventors, the American Lung Associations Legacy Award and an NIH MERIT Award. Dr. Low received his B.S. in Chemistry from BYU (1971) and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from UCSD (1975).
Seminars
- Exploring the use of small molecule targeting ligands to deliver attached drugs specifically to diseased cells, thereby improving their potencies and avoiding the unwanted toxicities that occur when they accumulate in healthy cells
- For this purpose, we have designed targeting ligands that are highly specific for distinct cancers, different autoimmune disorders, multiple fibrotic diseases, viruses and virus-infected cells, dysregulated immune cells, bone fractures, metabolically aberrant normal cells (e.g. hepatocytes, adipocytes, etc.) and several other cell types
- Applications of these targeting ligands to the design of precision medicines for imaging and therapy of many diseases will be summarized. Although three FDA-approved drugs from my lab will be briefly mentioned, most of the seminar will be devoted to the design of new drugs about to enter or already undergoing human clinical trials
