A newly constructed collaborative laboratory space will soon be a bustling homebase for a variety of interdisciplinary drug discovery and medicinal chemistry research projects. Located in the University of Florida Basic Science Building, the UF College of Pharmacy’s Department of Medicinal Chemistry lab will be fully operational in November 2025.
At 14,500 square feet, the lab is a unique and integrated drug discovery space, unmatched on UF’s Gainesville campus. Hendrik Luesch, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and the Debbie and Sylvia DeSantis Chair in Natural Products Drug Discovery and Development, said this space will promote synergy and teamwork among the various research teams housed within the space, as well as alignment with the strategic priorities of the university and UF Health.
“The Department of Medicinal Chemistry is UF’s drug discovery engine, and this space is designed for the next decades of modern drug discovery at UF,” Luesch said. “UF’s goal is to catalyze the translation of home-grown therapeutics, and the investment in our department will ensure that we can fuel our pipeline of new drug candidates with the next generation of innovative therapeutic modalities. It will also synergize with the presidential strategic research investment into our Blue Future Medicine Initiative, furthering our goal of domestic, and ultimately global, leadership in natural products drug discovery and beyond.”
The space will house the labs of Luesch, Yousong Ding, Ph.D., a professor of medicinal chemistry, and Xingui Liu, Ph.D., an assistant professor of medicinal chemistry. With three wet lab areas for interactive chemistry, chemical biology and synthetic biology, as well as a computational chemistry dry lab, the facility is built to support multidisciplinary work led by faculty in the Center for Natural Products, Drug Discovery and Development, or CNPD3. These labs will support the CNPD3’s collaborative research areas, including molecular diversity and screening, microbial genomics and synthetic biology, synthetic chemistry, AI-based and structure-based drug design and optimization, and emerging induced proximity and targeted protein degradation platforms.
Bioactive natural products will be transformed into new therapies throughout the different lab areas, from function-driven discovery and synthesis in the chemistry space to testing compounds in the chemical biology space to genomics-driven discovery and gene translation in the synthetic biology space. Natural products and other compounds will be optimized through interactive computational and synthetic chemistry and transformed into targeted therapeutics for precision medicines through application of innovative technologies.
“Drug discovery is a team science. By uniting research groups and platforms, we create opportunities for effective interactions that advance science, while providing a comprehensive learning experience for our graduate students and trainees,” Luesch said.
Construction began on the space last fall, an undertaking made possible through a $10 million bond secured by the university. With 38 student and trainee spaces, 18 chemistry hoods, nine faculty offices, a large conference room and state-of-the-art equipment, Luesch said, the lab will enable the department to attract top talent at all professional levels.
“There is an infectious level of excitement about the trajectory of our department among students and faculty. The team spirit, and now our new space, are galvanizing. Everybody wants to be on a winning team,” Luesch said. “Prospective students are seeking collaborative environments with excellent infrastructure to prepare them for their careers in drug discovery. We also have exquisite, unoccupied space to attract a synthetic medicinal chemist with a complementary discovery platform to ultimately deliver additional treatment options in areas of unmet clinical need. This is the place to be.”
