Josmar Rodrigues da Rocha

Graduated in Chemistry at Universidade Estadual do Centro Oeste (Unicentro, 2003) and Doctor of Science at Instituto de Química de Sáo Carlos (USP, 2010), he has experience at hit discovery employing Molecular Modeling and Cheminformatics methods; biochemical assays as well as the expression, purification and crystallization of pharmacologically relevant drug targets. He worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Medicinal Chemistry group of the Instituto de Química de Sáo Carlos and his work focused on the design of selective inhibitors for Trypanosomatid parasites drug targets, such as DHODH, GAPDH, and the cysteine proteases cruzain and cathepsin B. In addition, he worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Biomedical Chemistry Department from The University of Tokyo to obtain crystal structures of the enzyme DHODH from Trypanosoma cruzi in complex with inhibitors. His research interest are focused on the integration of computational methods, organic synthesis, biochemical assays, and protein X-ray crystallography, into the process of hit discovery and hit-to-lead optimization. (Source: Lattes Curriculum)