Arie Lev Gruzman ( he, אריה גרוזמן; born 3 October 1970) is a professor of chemistry at Bar Ilan University specializing in Medicinal Chemistry.

Biography

Arie Lev GruzmanProf. Arie-Lev Gruzman, Bar-Ilan University
/ref> (1970) was born in Gorky (nowadays

Nizhniy Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...

), Russia. He graduated (1988) from (

Summa cum Laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

) as a

practical nurse A licensed practical nurse (LPN), in much of the United States and Canada, is a nurse who cares for people who are sick, injured, convalescent, or disabled. In the United States, LPNs work under the direction of physicians, mid-level practition ...

. At the same year, he enrolled at the Pediatric faculty of Gorky Academy for Medicine (nowadays, Privolzhsky Research Medical University). After two and a half years, he interrupted his education towards

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

and repatriated to Israel in 1991. He obtained his B.Sc. in Medicinal chemistry from Bar-Ilan University (1995) and a Ph.D. (summa cum laude) from the School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem under the supervision of Prof. Shlomo Sasson and Prof. Jehoshua Katzehendler. After a military service in the

IDF IDF or idf may refer to: Defence forces * Irish Defence Forces * Israel Defense Forces *Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006 * Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917 Organizations * Israeli Diving Federation * Interac ...

, he was a postdoctoral researcher (2004–2007) at the Department of Physiology, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine (UCSF) and at California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) at

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, under the supervision of Prof. Vishvanath Lingappa. After returning to Israel, he worked as a head of a project (development of new

antidiabetic drug Drugs used in diabetes treat diabetes mellitus by altering the glucose level in the blood. With the exceptions of insulin, most GLP receptor agonists ( liraglutide, exenatide, and others), and pramlintide, all are administered orally and are t ...

) at

Yissum Research Development Company of the Hebrew University Yissum Research Development Company is the technology transfer company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Founded in 1964, it is the third tech transfer company in the world to be created, and seeks to convert research into commercial soluti ...

. Since 2009 he is a faculty member in the department of chemistry at Bar-Ilan University. Gruzman served as a vice-president of the Medicinal Chemistry Section of the Israel Chemical Society MCS-ICS (2011–2015). He is also one of the founders of the

startup A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...

drug development company “AltA-ZuZ”.

Scientific interests and publications

His research areas of interestProf. Gruzman's lab - website
/ref> include

organic synthesis Organic synthesis is a special branch of chemical synthesis and is concerned with the intentional construction of organic compounds. Organic molecules are often more complex than inorganic compounds, and their synthesis has developed into one o ...

, medicinal chemistry, peptide chemistry, analytical chemistry,

pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...

pharmacokinetics Pharmacokinetics (from Ancient Greek ''pharmakon'' "drug" and ''kinetikos'' "moving, putting in motion"; see chemical kinetics), sometimes abbreviated as PK, is a branch of pharmacology dedicated to determining the fate of substances administered ...

studies,

in vitro ''In vitro'' (meaning in glass, or ''in the glass'') studies are performed with microorganisms, cells, or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called "test-tube experiments", these studies in biology an ...

and

in vivo Studies that are ''in vivo'' (Latin for "within the living"; often not italicized in English) are those in which the effects of various biological entities are tested on whole, living organisms or cells, usually animals, including humans, and ...

drug candidate testing,

nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...

, molecular computer-aided modeling, and basic

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

. His current research focuses on developing of new drugs for the treatment of

insulin Insulin (, from Latin ''insula'', 'island') is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets encoded in humans by the ''INS'' gene. It is considered to be the main anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabolism o ...

dependent

diabetes mellitus Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

(IDDM,

Type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that originates when cells that make insulin (beta cells) are destroyed by the immune system. Insulin is a hormone required for the cells to use blood sugar for ...

) and non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM,

Type 2 diabetes Type 2 diabetes, formerly known as adult-onset diabetes, is a form of diabetes mellitus that is characterized by high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and relative lack of insulin. Common symptoms include increased thirst, frequent urination, ...

) type of diabetes. His group, together with collaborators, developed several compounds that have a bi-functional mode of action in NIDDM. Such drug candidates increase the rate of

glucose uptake Method of glucose uptake differs throughout tissues depending on two factors; the metabolic needs of the tissue and availability of glucose. The two ways in which glucose uptake can take place are facilitated diffusion (a passive process) and seco ...

skeletal muscle Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as muscles) are organs of the vertebrate muscular system and typically are attached by tendons to bones of a skeleton. The muscle cells of skeletal muscles are much longer than in the other types of muscl ...

s and augment the rate of

insulin secretion Insulin (, from Latin ''insula'', 'island') is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets encoded in humans by the ''INS'' gene. It is considered to be the main anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabolism o ...

. Gruzman's group also developed new drug candidates against

ALS Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most com ...

. His chemistry expertise is mainly related to

peptide Peptides (, ) are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. Long chains of amino acids are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty amino acids are called oligopeptides, and include dipeptides, tripeptides, and tetrapeptides. A ...

/ peptidomimetic chemistry. Among his awards is Excellence in teaching (2016); “ Faculty of 1000 Biology Award” (2007); The Kaye Innovation Awards at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2003);The Kaye Innovation Awards, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
/ref> Bern-Schlander Research Award, the Diabetes Research Centre of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2002). He was elected as Israeli Representative of the Chemistry and Human Health, Division of International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) for the term 2022–2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gruzman, Arie Lev 1970 births Living people Academic staff of Bar-Ilan University Israeli chemists Jewish chemists Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni