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CAS professor leads NIH grant project
[2.21.2014]

TAMPA, Fla. –- A University of South Florida College of Arts and Sciences professor in the Department of Chemistry is part of a team of researchers who received a $2.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

James Leahy, Ph.D., is one of the principle investigators on the NIH-R01 grant targeting the development of new drugs toward malaria-related parasites. The project is a joint effort between the Department of Chemistry, the USF Center for Drug Discovery and Innovation, and USF Health and is part of the ongoing drug discovery effort at USF.

Leahy’s research specializes in organic and medical chemistry. The ultimate goal of the research being done in Leahy’s lab is the discovery of new drug candidates with fully optimized pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics parameters.

Professor Leahy has extensive experience in this area, having advanced more than a dozen compounds into human clinical trials including the discovery of Cometriq/Cabozantinib/XL184 which is used for the treatment of medullary thyroid cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.

-USF-

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Author: Justine Figueroa
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