Journal of Autacoids and Hormones
Open Access

Editor-in-Chief
Alexandros Makriyannis
Professor
Center for Drug Discovery
Northeastern University
USA
 

Biography

Dr.Alexandros Makriyannis holds the George Behrakis Trustee Chair in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at Northeastern University and is Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemistry and Chemical Biology and Director of Northeastern University’s Center for Drug Discovery. He obtained his Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry at the University of Kansas and completed postdoctoral training in synthetic organic chemistry at the University of California,Berkeley. Following positions at Smith, Kline and French Laboratories and Tufts Medical School, he moved to the University of Connecticut, where he rose to the rank of Distinguished Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology and Pharmacology.In 2005, he joined Northeastern University and established its Center for Drug Discovery, which has since expanded to 57 members. The Center is dedicated to discovering novel medications that address important medical needs, developing approaches and technologies that improve the success of finding new drug, training and educating scientists in the art of drug discovery and development. Dr. Makriyannis has spent the past two decades inventing and applying chemical, biochemical and biophysical approaches to study the endocannabinoid signaling system and exploring its therapeutic potential.A particular focus has been the discovery and profiling of novel therapeutic candidates for pain, Parkinson’s disease, metabolic disorders including obesity, drug and tobacco addiction. The results of this research continue to be presented in numerous publications in the biomedical literature and at international scientific meetings.Under Dr. Makriyannis’s direction, Northeastern University’s Center for Drug Discovery has been active in hosting visiting scientists from around the globe, presenting major biomedical symposia, attracting substantial research support from the National Institutes of Health, and collaborating on translational research with leading clinical facilities and hospitals.

Research Interest

Cannabinergic agents; drugs of abuse; structure and function of G-protein coupled receptors and enzymes; enzyme inhibitors; drug-membrane interactions; neurosteroids; endocannabinoid biomarkers.