Dr. Susan Bates received her MD degree from the University of Arkansas School of Medicine. She completed her clinical training in internal medicine at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and in medical oncology at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, MD. Dr. Bates was a Lead Clinical Investigator and Head of the Molecular Therapeutics Section in the Developmental Therapeutics Branch of the Center for Cancer Research before moving to Columbia University in August 2015.

During her years at the NCI, Dr. Bates led a highly successful translational research program focused on mechanisms of multidrug resistance and approaches to evaluate and improve the activity of epigenetic modifying agents. Her laboratory was among the first to clone the multidrug transporter ABCG2, eventually characterizing its function and its role in chemo-resistance and chemo-protection. This effort built upon earlier work elaborating the role of the multi-drug transporter P-glycoprotein that had defined the drug sensitivity profiles of cell lines in vitro, particularly in the NCI-60 cell line panel. The latter observation continues to impact how the NCI-60 cell line panel is used in drug discovery, and helped her identify a novel agent, at that time known as depsipeptide. Dr. Bates brought this drug to the clinic and after completing its phase I testing, served as Principal Investigator of a multi-institutional, international Phase II study of romidepsin (depsipeptide) in cutaneous and peripheral T-cell lymphoma. Working with Gloucester Pharmaceuticals, the data from this study were included in New Drug Applications (NDA) to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). This partnership led to approval by the FDA of romidepsin for two indications – initially for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma and later for peripheral T-cell lymphoma.

Dr. Bates’ current interests are both laboratory and clinical in nature. Her laboratory efforts include laboratory and translational studies on drug resistance in T-cell lymphomas and advanced solid tumors including breast, pancreatic, neuroendocrine, renal and lung cancers. Her work is dedicated to new drug development, and finding antineoplastic agents that, alone or in combination with other anticancer agents, improve the options available for difficult to treat cancers. Emanating from the clinical and translational development of romidepsin, a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, a current focus is on epigenetic therapies, and the development of combination therapies to use with HDAC inhibitors in refractory advanced cancers, including solid tumors. She also has a special interest in drug delivery and drug distribution and the role of the blood brain barrier in creating a sanctuary site for cancers that metastasize to the brain. Clinically, her goal has always been to translate ideas from the laboratory to clinical trials, an effort that has proven very successful. Clinically she seeks to develop combination therapies with histone deacetylase inhibitors for the therapy of solid tumors; and to develop therapies to treat central nervous system metastases, a complication of cancer that is becoming a greater problem as patients live longer with cancer.

Arnab K. Chatterjee completed a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry and minor in Business from Northwestern University in 1997 and a brief period as an IT consultant, he proceeded on to the Caltech to conduct his chemistry doctoral thesis research in the laboratory of Professor Robert H. Grubbs in from 1999-2002 (Professor Grubbs was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2005 for his work in the area olefin metathesis). Arnab joined the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) as a Principal Investigator in the chemistry department. His work over of 9+ years has been focused on hit-to-lead and lead optimization in several medicinal chemistry projects ranging a variety of therapeutic areas (neuroscience, oncology, respiratory disease and infectious diseases).  The project teams he has worked with have produced 8 preclinical candidates optimized for both inhaled and oral formulations with three novel first-in-class compounds in clinical trials including KAF156 currently in Phase 2b a first-in-class antimalarial.

Since May 2012 he has been responsible for setting up and leading the chemistry group at the Calibr in La Jolla, CA working across a wide-variety of disease areas including three compounds in clinical trials and three in IND-enabling studies in the areas of malaria, HIV, regenerative medicine and most recently for SARS-2. His research interests include application of novel synthetic methods to expedite the structural diversification in medicinal chemistry, cell-based lead optimization, advanced formulation methods for delivery of small molecules and drug repurposing.

Dr. Travis Dunckley obtained his undergraduate degree in molecular and cellular biology and biochemistry from the University of Arizona. His doctoral work was completed at the University of Arizona in the field of molecular and cellular biology. Prior to joining TGen, he studied gene expression at the level of mRNA stability. In 2000, Dr. Dunckley expanded his training to the field of Neurobiology during a fellowship position at Barrow Neurological Institute where he studied structure/function interactions in nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR) and identified novel genes regulated by nAChR activity. In 2003 he transitioned to the Neurogenomics division at TGen to leverage the rapidly developing genomics field for the identification of relevant therapeutic targets and biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. He has developed efficient single cell isolation and transcriptome profiling methods, high-throughput functional assays directly applicable to relevant phenotypic endpoints in neurodegenerative diseases – including α-synuclein accumulation and tau hyperphosphorylation, and he has performed large scale association studies to identify DNA variants underlying neurodegenerative disease.

Dr. Dunckley has recently moved to the Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University where ongoing work involves the role of epigenetics as a potentially modifiable factor contributing to neurodegeneration and the development of novel small molecule inhibitors of the DYRK1A kinase for potential therapeutic applications in Alzheimer’s disease and Down syndrome.