Professor Adrian Whitty

Associate Professor of Chemistry

Professor Whitty received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry in 1991 from the University of Illinois at Chicago, followed by postdoctoral work with William P. Jencks at Brandeis University. In 1993 he joined the biopharmaceutical company Biogen, where he worked on a wide range of biopharmaceutical and small molecule projects, several of which led to successful drugs or clinical candidates. In his 14 years at Biogen Dr. Whitty held positions of increasing responsibility, most recently as Director of Physical Biochemistry. As a member of the company’s senior research leadership, he held seats on the R&D Committee (governing committee for Biogen’s 800-person R&D organization), Drug Discovery Core Management Team, Preclinical Development Team, Oncology R&D Committee, Immunology Research Committee, and Neurology Research Committee. Dr. Whitty moved to Boston University in 2008.

Research activities in the Whitty Group involve the development of new approaches for inhibiting protein-protein interactions with small molecules, especially using non-canonical drug modalities such as synthetic macrocycles and targeted covalent inhibitors. A second major focus is the activation and signaling mechanisms of growth factor receptors.