Dyeison Antonow

Dyeison Antonow graduated as pharmacist in 2003 from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - Brazil after scientific training in medicinal chemistry at Universidade de la República - Uruguay and completing his clinical training in radiopharmeuticals and nuclear medicine at Santa Rita Hospital in Porto Alegre-Brazil. He then moved to the University of London (UK) to complete his PhD in organic chemistry on the synthesis of pyrrolo[2,1-c][1,4]benzodiazepines (PBDs) natural products as DNA-interactive agents and NMR-based structural investigations of drug-DNA adducts. In 2008, he took up a position as a Cancer Research UK Research Fellow working on the discovery of novel inhibitors of protein-protein interactions for cancer chemotherapy. D. Antonow has also worked as a consultant for the biotech company Spirogen Ltd (acquired by MedImmune, LLC - AstraZeneca for US$ 440 million in 2013) and had his PhD work funded by the same company on the development of novel DNA-targeted anticancer drugs and Antibody Drug-Conjugates (ADCs). More recently, in April 2016, a molecule synthesized by him and colleagues in 2010 while consulting to Spirogen Ltd was crucial for the technology of Rova-T, an rovalpituzumab tesirine ADC from StemCentrx in collaboration with Spirogen Ltd. Rova-T is in clinical trials and was purchased together with StemCentrx by Abbvie for $ 10 billion (news.abbvie.com, 26 Apr 2016), characterized as the second largest acquisition in the history of venture capital investment in biotechnology.During the last thirteen years he has worked in a number of interdisciplinary research projects related to drug discovery and development, including oncology agents for the biotechnology/pharmaceutical industry. His experience involved clinical studies, medicinal chemistry, molecular biology, computational chemistry, NMR-based structural investigations, IP-protection, and exposure to the commercial aspects of his research, including independent consultancies, management, legal and regulatory aspects, and market competitiveness. D. Antonow has also been keeping an focussed interest in fragment-based drug discovery and target-guided synthesis as radically innovative fields for the discovery of new therapeutics.Upon moving back to South America in 2012, D. Antonow has been designated by the Brazilian National Cancer Institute (INCA) to the Ministry of Health (MS) to structure, implement and spearhead a National Program on Oncology Drug Development (REDEFAC) to support product development and innovation against cancer for the Brazilian National Health System (SUS). In February 2014, D. Antonow was appointed Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine at PUCRS where he worked as Principal Investigator (PI) and collaborator in a number of research projects at the Biomedical Research Institute (IPB), fundraising more than R$ 3.5 million through private donations and research grants related to oncology drug discovery. At PUCRS he has set up the GOMA Research Group and the Drug Discovery Lab with a focussed intention of obtaining proof-of-concept preclinical research data for innovative biologically- and synthetically-derived drug candidates. Within his research roles at IPB, D. Antonow has also set up and headed the Cancer Research Nucleus (NP-Cancer) as a multidisciplinary research group with basic, translational, and clinical scientists working in oncology. Through regular scientific meetings and collaborative research NP-Cancer's experimental efforts aim to improve our understanding of cancer's biology along with translational initiatives for developing technologies for clinical application.