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Meet Our Florida Scientists Jose Luis Medina-Franco
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Jose Luis Medina-Franco

Jose Luis Medina-FrancoTorreyPinesInstituteFL

Assistant Member
Computer Aided
Drug Design
772.345.4685 - phone
772.345.3649 - fax
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Dr. Medina-Franco's research focuses on computer-aided drug design. The research group conducts virtual screening of large compound databases to identify novel compounds directed to targets associated with the treatment of cancer, HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Molecular modeling and chemoinformatic methods are used for the structure-based and ligand-based optimization of bioactive compounds. The group also performs structural classification, diversity analysis and data mining of chemical libraries. Current projects include:

  • Virtual screening and structure-based design of DNA methyltransferase inhibitors as anti-cancer agents
  • Computer-based discovery and development of protein kinase B inhibitors
  • Molecular modeling of a-conotoxins
  • In-silico design and profiling of combinatorial libraries
  • Structure-activity relationships studies of compound data sets using molecular similarity and other chemoinformatic approaches

Research is conducted in a multidisciplinary environment with close collaborations with experimental research groups.

Dr. Jose Luis Medina-Franco received a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in 1998 and that same year, he joined Procter & Gamble in Mexico City, working in the research and development department. He received a Masters in Science in 2002 ("Synthesis of pyridinone-2(1H)-ones as precursors of potential HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors") and a Ph.D. degree in 2005 ("Computer-Aided Drug Design. HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors, Hypocholesterolemic and Antiparasitic Compounds"), both in Chemisty from UNAM, working in the laboratory of Professor Rafael Castillo. During his doctoral studies, Dr. Medina-Franco participated in research visits with Professor Jesus Jimenez-Barbero, in Madrid, Spain; Professor Alexander Tropsha at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Professor Gerald M. Maggiora at the University of Arizona. In 2005, he joined Professor Maggiora as a postdoctoral fellow. In August 2007, Dr. Medina-Franco was named Assistant Member at the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies in Florida.

Education

2005 - Doctor of Philosophy (Chemistry): National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico

2002 - Master of Science (Chemistry): National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico

1998 - Bachelor of Science (Chemistry): National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico

Positions

2007 - Present: Assistant Member, Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, Port St Lucie, Florida

2005 - 2007: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona

1998 - 2000: Senior Research Associate, Procter & Gamble, Mexico City, Mexico

Professional Affiliations

  • 2007-Present: National Researcher System, National Council of Science and Technology, Mexico
  • 2004-Present: American Chemical Society
  • 2004 - Present: Member of the American Chemical Society, since 2004.
  • Reviewer for: Journal of Computer-Aided Molecular Design, European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemical Biology and Drug Design, European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, ChemMedChem, Journal of the Mexican Chemical Society.
  • Organizer of symposium, Rational Drug Design at XXXIX National Meeting of the Mexican Chemical Society. Merida, Mexico, October 3-7, 2004.
  • 2007-Present: National Researcher System, National Council of Science and Technology, Mexico

Honors and Awards

  • Member of the National Researcher System, National Council of Science and Technology, Mexico (January 2007 – December 2009; January 2010 – December 2013).
  • Antonio Caso Medal, National Autonomous University of Mexico. Top grade average of PhD studies in Chemistry. Awarded presented in 2010.
  • Antonio Caso Medal, National Autonomous University of Mexico. Top grade average of Master in Science studies in Chemistry. Awarded presented in 2005.
  • Gabino Barreda Medal, National Autonomous University of Mexico. Top grade average of the B.S. in Chemistry. Awarded in 2000.
  • Accelrys Fellowship to the Fifth European Workshop in Drug Design, Siena, Italy, 2005.
  • Science and Technology National Council Fellowship to the University of Arizona, 2005.
  • Science and Technology National Council Fellowship at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, M.Sc. and PhD studies, 2000-2005.
  • National Autonomous University of Mexico Fellowship at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, M.Sc. and PhD studies, 2000-2005.
  • Drew University Fellowship to the 2002 Residential School on Medicinal Chemistry, New Jersey, 2002.
  • QFB Santiago Maza Award, XXXIV Pharmaceutical Sciences National Meeting, Manzanillo, Mexico, 2001.
  • Recognition Shares. Procter & Gamble, Global Home Care - Belgium. 1999.
  • National Autonomous University of Mexico Foundation Fellowship at the University of Texas at Austin, 1997.
  • Austromex Award, B.S., 1997.
  • National Autonomous University of Mexico Foundation Fellowship at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, B.S. studies, 1993-1996.

Selected Publications (10 of 82)

  1. López-Vallejo, F.; Giulianotti, M. A.; Houghten, R. A.; Medina-Franco, J. L. Expanding the medicinally relevant chemical space with compound libraries. Drug Discovery Today 2012, 17, 718-726.
  2. Waddell, J.; Medina-Franco, J. L. Bioactivity landscape modeling: Chemoinformatic characterization of structure-activity relationships of compounds tested across multiple targets. Bioorg. Med. Chem. 2012, 20, 5443-5442.
  3. Medina-Franco, J. L.; Caulfield, T. Advances in the computational development of DNA methyltransferase inhibitors. Drug Discovery Today, 2011, 16, 418-425.
  4. Yoo, J.; Medina-Franco, J. L. Homology modeling, docking, and structure-based pharmacophore of inhibitors of DNA methyltransferase, J. Comp.-Aided Mol. Des., 2011, 25, 555-567.
  5. López-Vallejo, F.; Nefzi, A.; Bender, A.; Owen, J. R.; Nabney, I. T.; Houghten, R. A. Medina-Franco, J. L. Increased Diversity of Libraries from Libraries: Chemoinformatic Analysis of Bis-Diazacyclic Libraries. Chem. Biol. Drug Des., 2011, 77, 328-342.
  6. López-Vallejo, F.; Caulfield, T.; Martínez-Mayorga, K.; Giulianotti, M. A.; Nefzi, A.; Houghten, R. A.; Medina-Franco, J. L. Integrating Virtual Screening and Combinatorial Chemistry for Accelerated Drug Discovery. Comb. Chem. High Throughput Screening, 2011, 14, 475-487.
  7. Kuck, D.; Caulfield, T.; Lyko, F.; Medina-Franco, J. L. Nanaomycin A Selectively Inhibits DNMT3B and Reactivates Silenced Tumor Suppressor Genes in Human Cancer Cells. Mol. Cancer Ther. 2010, 9, 3016-3023.
  8. Medina-Franco, J. L.; Martínez-Mayorga, K.; Bender, A.; Marín, R. M.; Giulianotti, M. A.; Pinilla, C.; Houghten, R. A. Characterization of Activity Landscapes Using 2D and 3D Similarity Methods: Consensus Activity Cliffs. J. Chem. Inf. Model. 2009, 49, 477-491.
  9. Singh, N.; Guha, R.; Giulianotti, M.; Pinilla, C.; Houghten, R.; Medina-Franco, J. L. Chemoinformatic Analysis of Drugs, Natural Products, Molecular Libraries Small Molecule Repository and Combinatorial Libraries. J. Chem. Inf. Model. 2009, 49, 1010-1024.
  10. Medina-Franco, J. L.; Giulianotti, M. A.; Yu, Y.; Shen, L.; Yao, L.; Singh, N. Discovery of a Novel Protein Kinase B Inhibitor by Structure-Based Virtual Screening. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2009, 19, 4634-4638.