Marvin Meyers, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Chemistry
Coordinator
Chemistry Graduate Program
Courses Taught
CHEM 3100: Chemical Literature, CHEM 3970 Undergraduate Research, CHEM 4470/5470: Medicinal Chemistry, CHEM 5000 Chemical Literature, CHEM 6900 Proposal Writing and Presentation
Education
B.A. in Chemistry, Dordt College, 1996
Ph.D. in Chemistry. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2000
Research Interests
Medicinal Chemistry, Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Chemical Biology, Pharmacology, Drug Discovery
In our lab, we practice the art of medicinal chemistry. We use synthetic organic chemistry to design and prepare new compounds, which are analyzed by our collaborators to assess their biological properties. Using medicinal chemistry and structure-based drug design principles, we optimize the potency, pharmacokinetics, and safety profiles of compounds with the ultimate goal of identification of candidate drugs for clinical trials. The discoveries we make can also teach us about the biology of disease, how things work at a biomolecular level in living systems. We can use small molecules as chemical probes to modulate biological systems, define molecular pathways, and identify new targets for drug discovery.
We are especially interested in finding new drugs for infectious diseases. We are actively working on malaria, cryptosporidiosis, tuberculosis, herpes simplex virus, hepatitis B virus, and cryptococcal meningitis. These diseases kill millions of people annually and are particularly devastating to the poorest of the poor living in the developing world. We also have projects working on rare diseases such as FSHD (a type of muscular dystrophy) and infant short gut syndrome, as well as for certain types of cancer.
To read more details about our lab and these projects, please see our group website at www.meyerschemlab.com.
Labs and Facilities
Monsanto Hall 127
Publications and Media Placements
Synthetic derivatives of the anti-fungal drug ciclopirox are active against herpes simplex virus 2. Zangi M, Donald KA, Casals AG, Franson AD, Yu AJ, Marker EM, Woodson ME, Campbell SD, Mottaleb MA, Kumar TVNH, Reddy MS, Reddy LVR, Sadhukhan SK, Griggs DW, Morrison LA* and Meyers MJ*. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 2022, 238, 114443. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmech.2022.114443.
Repurposing and optimization of drugs for discovery of novel antifungals. Donlin MJ, Meyers MJ. Drug Discovery Today. 2022 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drudis.2022.04.021.
Efficient Inhibition of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) Replication and cccDNA Formation by HBV Ribonuclease H Inhibitors during Infection. Chauhan R, Li Q, Woodson ME, Gasonoo M, Meyers MJ, Tavis JE. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2021, 65(12):e0146021. doi: 10.1128/AAC.01460-21.
Optimization of the Urea Linker of Triazolopyridazine MMV665917 Results in a New Anticryptosporidial
Lead with Improved Potency and Predicted hERG Safety Margin.
Oboh E, Schubert TJ, Teixeira JE, Stebbins EE, Miller P, Philo E, Thakellapalli H,
Campbell SD, Griggs DW, Huston CD*, Meyers MJ*. J. Med. Chem. 2021, ASAP. doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c01136.
Synthetic Derivatives of Ciclopirox are Effective Inhibitors of Cryptococcus neoformans. Lin J, Zangi M, Kumar TVNH, Shakar Reddy M, Reddy LVR, Sadhukhan SK, Bradley DP, Moreira-Walsh B, Edwards TC, O'Dea AT, Tavis JE, Meyers MJ, Donlin MJ. ACS Omega 2021, 6(12):8477-8487. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.1c00273.
Identification of 4-Amino-Thieno[2,3-d]Pyrimidines as QcrB Inhibitors in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Harrison GA, Mayer Bridwell AE, Singh M, Jayaraman K, Weiss LA, Kinsella RL, Aneke JS, Flentie K, Schene ME, Gaggioli M, Solomon SD, Wildman SA, Meyers MJ, Stallings CL. mSphere 2019 Sep 11;4(5). doi: 10.1128/mSphere.00606-19.
4-Aryl Pyrrolidines as Novel Orally Efficacious Antimalarial Agents. Part 2: 2-Aryl-N-(4-arylpyrrolidin-3-yl)acetamides. Meyers MJ, Liu J, Liu Z, Ma H, Dai L, Adah D, Zhao S, Li X, Liu X, Lu Y, Huang Y, Tu Z, Chen X, Tortorella MD. ACS Med Chem Lett. 2019, 10(6):966-971. doi: 10.1021/acsmedchemlett.9b00123.
4-Aryl Pyrrolidines as a Novel Class of Orally Efficacious Antimalarial Agents. Part 1: Evaluation of 4-Aryl- N-benzylpyrrolidine-3-carboxamides. Meyers MJ, Liu J, Xu J, Leng F, Guan J, Liu Z, McNitt SA, Qin L, Dai L, Ma H, Adah D, Zhao S, Li X, Polino AJ, Nasamu AS, Goldberg DE, Liu X, Lu Y, Tu Z, Chen X, Tortorella MD. J Med Chem. 2019, 62(7):3503-3512. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.8b01972.
Antifungal Phenothiazines: Optimization, Characterization of Mechanism, and Modulation of Neuroreceptor Activity. Montoya MC, DiDone L, Heier RF, Meyers MJ, Krysan DJ. ACS Infect Dis. 2018, 4(4):499-507. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.7b00157.
A Novel Piperazine-Based Drug Lead for Cryptosporidiosis from the Medicines for Malaria Venture Open-Access Malaria Box. Jumani RS, Bessoff K, Love MS, Miller P, Stebbins EE, Teixeira JE, Campbell MA, Meyers MJ, Zambriski JA, Nunez V, Woods AK, McNamara CW, Huston CD. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2018, 62(4). doi: 10.1128/AAC.01505-17.
Plasmepsins IX and X are essential and druggable mediators of malaria parasite egress and invasion. Nasamu AS, Glushakova S, Russo I, Vaupel B, Oksman A, Kim AS, Fremont DH, Tolia N, Beck JR, Meyers MJ, Niles JC, Zimmerberg J, Goldberg DE. Science. 2017, 358(6362):518-522. doi: 10.1126/science.aan1478