Professor Alexandros Makriyannis
Professor and Behrakis Trustee Chair in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology,
Director of the Center for Drug Discovery
Ph.D. Medicinal Chem., Univ. of Kansas (1967)
Post-doctoral, Organic Chem., U. California, Berkeley (1967-69)
The CDD was founded by and is directed by Alexandros Makriyannis, the Behrakis Chair in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology. Professor Makriyannis is one of the world’s foremost researchers in the fields of medicinal chemistry, G protein-coupled receptors, and enzyme drug targets. He has published over 380 original articles, has more than 30 approved patents, and nearly 40 applications filed or pending. Professor Makriyannis has been formally recognized for his excellence in research by academic
institutions, the National Institutes of Health, and the American Association of Pharmaceutical Sciences, among others. Most recently, he was awarded the prestigious National Research Merit Award by NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse for the second time in the six years. Since 2005, he has received a Ph.D. (honoris causa) from the University of Athens, Greece, the Mechoulam Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Cannabinoid Research Society, and the Research Achievement Award in Drug Design and Discovery from the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, the American Chemical Society Research Lifetime Achievement Award in Medicinal Chemistry, and the American Chemical Society Hall of Fame Award in Medicinal Chemistry.
Research at the CDD is strongly supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, research foundations, and industry. The CDD collaborates with the
biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries to identify and characterize new drug targets, develop assays, and identify biomarkers. CDD activities are supported by over 60 active student, predoctoral, postdoctoral, and faculty researchers and an infrastructure that includes state-of-the-art laboratories for chemical synthesis, molecular biology, cell culture, biochemistry, biophysical analyses (NMR and mass spectrometry), radiochemistry, imaging, computer-assisted modeling, and behavioral studies.
The CDD also incorporates a unique educational component to train new scientists in the multidisciplinary field of drug discovery as an area of concentration.
The CDD was awarded a multimillion-dollar training grant by the National Institutes of Health for predoctoral and postdoctoral training of future scientists in the field of Medications Development. In addition, the Center promotes educational activities for both students and the general public in special areas of disease and therapeutics.