Adrian Whitty

Adrian Whitty and his group study both protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions, particularly focusing on how binding energy from these interactions can be used to activate or inhibit biological mechanisms. There are two distinct areas for the applications of their research: 1) development of a quantitative and mechanistic understanding of the activation and signaling of growth factor receptors and 2) discovery of drugs that inhibit protein-protein interactions. Prior to joining the Chemistry Department at Boston University, Adrian worked for 14 years at Biogen, where he led a department that encompassed Quantitative Biochemistry, Assay Development and Compound Profiling, Structural Biology, and Molecular Modeling.

Research Areas

• Understanding activation and signaling of growth factor receptors. More specifically analyzing how the binding of a cytokine or growth factor results in an activated state of its receptor, and how the assembly of of this activated complex ultimately results in a signal and cellular response.
• The discovery and characterization of synthetic small molecules that inhibit protein-protein interaction. The key questions are 1) what structural and physicochemical properties at the protein-protein binding interface are most important for inhibition and 2) which molecules are most suitable to make use of these properties.

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