Robert J Devita
Scientist
Pharmacological Sciences
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
United States of America
Biography
Dr. DeVita is a Professor in the Department of Pharmacological Sciences and the Director of the Medicinal Chemistry Core of the Drug Discovery Institute (DDI). Prior to joining Mt Sinai, Dr. DeVita gained expertise managing multi-disciplinary teams that delivered on key program objectives for complex molecular targets. He has over 25 years working in biotech and the pharmaceutical industry, including at Merck Research Laboratories where he was a director of medicinal chemistry. His work has spanned the drug discovery paradigm from target ID to PII, including leadership of drug development teams. In collaboration with multi-disciplinary teams, he has identified multiple development candidates including two PII clinical compounds for CNS and CV targets. Dr. DeVita has drug discovery experience within a broad range of therapeutic areas including: CNS, pain/inflammation, diabetes, cardiovascular, hypertension, obesity, endocrinology, urology and oncology. He has developed, in collaboration with his teams, orally active, brain penetrant, peripheral and GI tract drug targeting strategies. He also has experience in the discovery and development of PET imaging agents and translational biomarkers for CNS targets. Dr. DeVita has been an active member of the Medicinal Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society serving on the Long Range Planning Committee and on the organizing committees for National and International Medicinal Chemistry Meetings. He has served as an Ad Hoc Reviewer for the National Institutes of Health Study Section for Synthetic and Biological Chemistry
Research Interest
Addiction, Brain Imaging, Cancer, Cardiovascular, Diabetes, Drug Design and Discovery, Infectious Disease, Inflammation, Neuroscience, Obesity, Positron Emission Tomography, Protein Structure/Function, Receptors, Transporters
Publications
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McLaren DG, He T, Wang SP, Mendoza V, Rosa R, etal (2011) The use of stable-isotopically labeled oleic acid to interrogate lipid assembly in vivo: assessing pharmacological effects in preclinical species. Journal of lipid research Vol: 52.
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Howell KL, DeVita RJ, Garcia-Calvo M, Meurer RD, Lisnock J, etal (2010) Spiroimidazolidinone NPC1L1 inhibitors. Part 2: structure-activity studies and in vivo efficacy. Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry letters Vol: 20.
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Morriello GJ, Chicchi G, Johnson T, Mills SG, Demartino J, etal (2010) Fused tricyclic pyrrolizinones that exhibit pseudo-irreversible blockade of the NK1 receptor. Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry letters Vol: 20.
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Morriello GJ, Mills SG, Johnson T, Reibarkh M, Chicchi G, etal (2010) Substituted fused bicyclic pyrrolizinones as potent, orally bioavailable hNK1 antagonists. Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry letters Vol: 20.
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Ramu A, Ramu N, Rosario LM (1991) Circumvention of multidrug-resistance in P388 cells is associated with a rise in the cellular content of phosphatidylcholine. Biochemical pharmacology Vol: 41.
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Simeone JP, Braun MP, Leone JF, Lin P, DeVita RJ, etal (2009) Multiple strategies for the preparation of a sulfur-35 labeled NPC1L1 radioligand. Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry letters Vol: 19.
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McMasters DR, Garcia-Calvo M, Maiorov V, McCann ME, Meurer RD, etal (2009) Spiroimidazolidinone NPC1L1 inhibitors. 1: Discovery by 3D-similarity-based virtual screening. Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry letters Vol: 19.
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Jiang J, Bunda JL, Doss GA, Chicchi GG, Kurtz MM, etal (2009) Potent, brain-penetrant, hydroisoindoline-based human neurokinin-1 receptor antagonists. Journal of medicinal chemistry Vol: 52.
