Alan P. Kozikowski is an American

medicinal chemist Medicinal or pharmaceutical chemistry is a scientific discipline at the intersection of chemistry and pharmacy involved with designing and developing pharmaceutical drugs. Medicinal chemistry involves the identification, synthesis and developmen ...

, drug designer, and pharmaceutical entrepreneur, best known for his research on 5-HT receptors, and GSK-3 inhibitors. He is an author of a book ''Drug Design for Neuroscience''. He has over 100 patents, over 550 publications.

Education and Postdoctoral research

Kozikowski received a PhD in organic chemistry at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. During his post-doctoral at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, he worked on organic synthesis under the supervision of Nobel laureate

E.J. Corey Elias James Corey (born July 12, 1928) is an American organic chemist. In 1990, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his development of the theory and methodology of organic synthesis", specifically retrosynthetic analysis. Regarded by many ...

Research career

Kozikowski began his career as an organic chemist at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

. Later, following his interest in the applications of chemistry to biological problems, he joined the

Mayo Clinic The Mayo Clinic () is a nonprofit American academic medical center focused on integrated health care, education, and research. It employs over 4,500 physicians and scientists, along with another 58,400 administrative and allied health staff, ...

, and drug discovery program at the

Georgetown University Medical Center Georgetown University Medical Center is a biomedical research and educational organization that responsible for over 80% of Georgetown University's sponsored research funding and is led by Edward B. Healton, MD, the Executive Vice President for He ...

. During this period his team was the first to synthesize the naturally occurring alkaloid

Huperzine A Huperzine A is a naturally occurring sesquiterpene alkaloid compound found in the firmoss ''Huperzia serrata'' and in varying quantities in other food ''Huperzia'' species, including ''H. elmeri'', ''H. carinat'', and ''H. aqualupian''. Huperzi ...

, an

AChE Ache or Aches may refer to: Ethnography * Aché, an indigenous people of eastern Paraguay * Aché language, the language of the Aché people * Ache language (China) * Aṣẹ (Cuban spelling: ''aché''), a concept in Orisha belief People * Ach ...

inhibitor that has memory-enhancing properties, and may be useful for the treatment of

Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As t ...

disease. His team also worked on various psychotropic agents such as cocaine analogs, like

Nocaine (+)-CPCA (nocaine, 3α-carbomethoxy-4β-(4-chlorophenyl)-''N''-methylpiperidine aka CTDP 31,446 ) is a stimulant drug similar in structure to pethidine (an opioid that possesses NDRI actions) and to RTI-31, but nocaine is lacking the two-carb ...

, which can potentially be used to treat stimulant addiction, and on

Phencyclidine Phencyclidine or phenylcyclohexyl piperidine (PCP), also known as angel dust among other names, is a dissociative anesthetic mainly used recreationally for its significant mind-altering effects. PCP may cause hallucinations, distorted perceptio ...

analogs to treat mental health disorders. After a decade at Georgetown, Kozikowski accepted a position at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

, where his team researched activity of different GSK-3β inhibitors to treat bipolar disorder. One of the compounds, 9-ING-41, is believed to be effective for multiple types of cancer, a discovery that was commercialized as Actuate Therapeutics Inc. He is also a founder of StarWise Therapeutics LLC, where new

HDAC6 Histone deacetylase 6 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''HDAC6'' gene. HDAC6 has emerged as a highly promising candidate to selectively inhibit as a therapeutic strategy to combat several types of cancer and neurodegenerative disorder ...

inhibitors were developed to treat Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. Currently, Kozikowski is working in

Bright Minds Biosciences Bright may refer to: Common meanings *Bright, an adjective meaning giving off or reflecting illumination; see Brightness *Bright, an adjective meaning someone with intelligence People *Bright (surname) *Bright (given name) *Bright, the stage name ...

to develop new psychedelic-based compounds to treat mental health disorders and cluster headaches. Kozikowski has been noted for his criticism of current drug discovery programs in psychiatry and potential overmedicalization.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kozikowski, Alan P. University of Michigan alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Harvard University Georgetown University Medical Center faculty University of Illinois faculty Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Harvard University alumni