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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. During his post-doctoral at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, he worked on organic synthesis under the supervision of Nobel laureate E.J. Corey.

Research career

Kozikowski began his career as an organic chemist at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

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

Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic () is a Nonprofit organization, private American Academic health science centre, academic Medical centers in the United States, medical center focused on integrated health care, healthcare, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science ...

, and drug discovery program at the

Georgetown University Medical Center Georgetown University Medical Center is a Washington, D.C.–based biomedical research and educational organization affiliated with Georgetown University that is responsible for over 80% of the university's sponsored research funding and is led ...

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

Huperzine A Huperzine A, a Lycopodium alkaloid, was first isolated in 1983 from ''Huperzia serrata'', a plant used in Chinese folk medicine. Huperzine A also exists in other Huperzia species, including ''H. elmeri'', ''H. carinat'', and ''H. aqualupian'' ...

, 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 * ...

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

Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

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 lacks the two-carbon brid ...

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

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

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 (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, where his team researched activity of different GSK-3β inhibitors to treat bipolar disorder. One of the compounds, 9-ING-41 ( Elraglusib), 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 disorde ...

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