Protein Kinases as Drug Targets

Bert Klebl is an expert in small molecule based drug discovery. Currently, he is managing director and CSO of Lead Discovery Center GmbH, which was started by Max-Planck Innovation and the Max-Planck Society. Before, he was at GPC Biotech, Axxima Pharmaceuticals and Aventis (Hoechst Marion Roussel). A biochemist by training, he graduated from the University of Konstanz, Germany, and did post-doctoral work at the Biotechnology Research Institute in Montreal, Canada. Gerhard Muller received his PhD in Organic Chemistry in 1992 from the Technical University of Munich, working with Horst Kessler. After two years in the Medicinal Chemistry Department of Glaxo Verona (Italy), he joined the Central Research Facility of Bayer AG in Leverkusen. From 2001 to 2003 he headed the chemistry department of Organon's Lead Discovery Unit is Oss, Netherlands. In 2003 he was nominated CSO of Axxima Pharmaceuticals AG in Munich, and upon its acquisition through GPC Biotech AG in 2005, he became GPC's Vice President Drug Discovery. Since 2008 he is CSO and Managing Director of Proteros Fragments GmbH, specializing in fragment-based lead generation. Apart from numerous scientific articles and patents, he co-edited the "Chemogenomics in Drug Discovery" book of this series on medicinal chemistry. Michael Hamacher studied biology at the Heinrich-Heine-Universitat in Dusseldorf, Germany. Subsequent to his PhD, he joined the Medizinisches Proteom-Center, Ruhr-Universitat Bochum, Germany, and became Head of Administration of the MPC, responsible for the implementation and the strategical planning of the Human Brain Proteome Project under the roof of the Human Proteome Organisation (HUPO BPP) among others. In 2008, he moved to the Lead Discovery Center GmbH, Dortmund, Germany, for the same position, focussing on preparing national as well as international funding applications, on project management, budgeting as well as human resources. He applied and implemented numerous projects in early pharmaceutical research.