Dinesh Thummuri PhD, DABT
Cambridge,MA
Summary
Highly motivated board-certified Toxicologist with 6+ years of experience working independently, and with R&D teams to deliver complex research findings in Drug Discovery. Resulting in spearheading successful scientific projects related to the discovery of BCL-XL/BCL-2 PROTACs, and Immuno-oncology programs at Takeda. Served as an ad-hoc reviewer for peer reviewed journals and reviewed 46 articles. Experience leading the development and fulfillment of new and existing drug discovery projects and expanding their therapeutic use in various cancers as evidenced by mentoring 10+ professional, 37 peer-reviewed publications and 10+ scientific posters. Strong communication skills with an ability to manage dedicated projects relevant to the target validation and illustration of mechanism of action as evidenced by the publication of 2 US patents and 10 awards.
Overview
7
7
years of professional experience
Work History
Research scientist II, Project Toxicologist
Takeda
Cambridge
05.2022 - Current
- Providing support to immune oncology programs (Small molecule inhibitors, PROTACs, siRNAs) with a focus on early discovery toxicology and safety issue management
- I also sit as a discovery toxicology SME on the PROTAC working group
- In these roles, I wrote TSRs, and designed early tolerability studies, and added safety endpoints to define and characterize the liabilities identified in the Target Safety Reviews.
Postdoctoral Associate
University of Florida
FL
06.2018 - Current
- Played a key role in the preclinical development of DT2216 and Second generation of BCL-XL/BCL-2 dual degraders
- Characterizing the mechanism of action for novel BCL-XL PROTACs for the selection of suitable warhead and E3 ligases to determine favorable protein-protein interactions (PPI) essential for enhanced degradation
- Determining PROTAC’s safety profile over conventional inhibitors by designing pharmacodynamics studies to determine toxicity and anti-cancer activity using in vivo xenograft tumor models and patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models
- Providing training and support for graduate students and Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows
- Mentored 17 students
- Analyzing the data, interpreting, and communicating data in a timely manner to the mentor (and collaborators) to drive data-driven decisions and scientific prioritization insights
- Compiling results, preparation of manuscripts, scientific posters, and presentations.
Postdoctoral Fellow
UAMS
AR
11.2017 - 05.2018
- Developed new approaches and SOPs for the assays to continuously improve the screening of PROTACs and in-vitro, in-vivo translation of lead compounds
- Participated in integrated drug discovery research teams by engaging in interaction with scientists of different disciplines
- Studied the role of senescence in side effects induced by cancer chemotherapy.
Education
PhD - Pharmacology & Toxicology
NIPER-Hyderabad
01.2017
Masters - Regulatory Toxicology
NIPER-SAS Nagar
01.2012
Skills
- Project Management
- Adaptability and Flexibility
- Report Generation
- Multitasking
- Teamwork and Collaboration
Publications
- Overcoming Gemcitabine Resistance in Pancreatic Cancer Using the BCL-XL Specific Degrader DT2216, Dinesh Thummuri
- Sajid Khan
- Patrick W. Underwood
- Peiyi Zheng, Janet Wiegand, Xuan Zhang, Vivekananda Budamagunta, Amin Sobh, Abderrahmane Tagmount, Alexander Loguinov, Andrea N. Riner, Ashwin S. Akki, Elizabeth Williamson, Robert Hromas, Christopher Vulpe, Guangrong Zheng, Jose G. Trevino, Daohong Zhou, Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, 2021
- Discovery of a Novel BCL-XL PROTAC Degrader with Enhanced BCL-2 Inhibition, Pratik Pal
- Dinesh Thummuri
- Dongwen Lv, Xingui Liu, Peiyi Zhang, Wanyi Hu, Saikat Poddar, Nan Hua, Sajid Khan, Yaxia Yuan, Xuan Zhang, Daohong Zhou, and Guangrong Zheng, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2021
- Discovery of PROTAC BCL-XL Degraders as Potent Anticancer Agents with Low On-target Platelet Toxicity, Xuan Zhang
- Xingui Liu, Wanyi Hu, Peiyi Zhang, Sajid Khan, Yaxia Yuan Daohong Zhou, Guangrong Zheng, European Journal of Medicinal chemistry, 2020
- Utilizing PROTAC technology to address the on-target platelet toxicity associated with inhibition of BCL-XL, Xuan Zhang
- Yonghan He, Xingui Liu, Peiyi Zhang, Daohong Zhou and Guangrong Zheng, Chemical communications, 2019
- DT2216, a BCL-XL proteolysis targeting chimera, is a safer and more potent antitumor agent than ABT263, Sajid Khan, Xuan Zhang, Dongwen Lv, Qi Zhang, Yonghan He, Peiyi Zhang, Xingui Liu, Dinesh Thummuri, Yaxia Yuan, Janet S Wiegand, Jing Pei, Weizhou Zhang, Abhisheak Sharma, Christopher R. McCurdy, Vinitha M. Kuruvilla, Natalia Baran, Adolfo A. Ferrando, Anna Rogojina Peter J Houghton, Guangcun Huang, Robert Hromas, Marina Konopleva, Guangrong Zheng, and Daohong Zhou, Nature Medicine, 2019
Accomplishments
- Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology (DABT) Certificate Awarded (November 2021)
- Society of Toxicology, Full member
- Qualified NIPER-JEE PhD with All India Rank 1 (2012)
- Qualified GAPT exam with All India Rank 15 (2010)
Languages
English
Professional
Telugu
Professional
References
References available upon request.
Timeline
Research scientist II, Project Toxicologist
Takeda
05.2022 - Current
Postdoctoral Associate
University of Florida
06.2018 - Current
Postdoctoral Fellow
UAMS
11.2017 - 05.2018
PhD - Pharmacology & Toxicology
NIPER-Hyderabad
Masters - Regulatory Toxicology
NIPER-SAS Nagar