The Guida Lab. From Left: Dr. Kenyon Daniel, Dr. Will Lawless (Back), Christina Gambino (Front), Dr. Wayne Guida, Guy Dahoff, Anna Kharitonova, Dr. Wesley Brooks.
Welcome
The University of South Florida is proud to spotlight Dr. Wayne Guida, a globally recognized leader in computational chemistry and a distinguished former Chair of Chemistry at the University of South Florida. Dr. Guida’s illustrious career spans academia and industry, including his tenure as President and CEO of Schrödinger, Inc., Executive Director at Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research, and a Professor in the Drug Discovery Program at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute. His research, which has garnered over 16,000 citations, focuses on computer-aided drug design, targeting enzymes critical to cancer and infectious disease treatment. Dr. Guida collaborates on innovative therapies, holding 12 U.S. patents and authoring over 90 publications.
Research
Dr. Wayne Guida’s groundbreaking research at the University of South Florida has significantly advanced the field of medicinal chemistry through his contributions to the discovery of clonixeril (CXL), a sub-femtomolar modulator of the human STING receptor, as detailed in the recently accepted publication in ACS Central Science, titled "Discovery of Clonixeril as a Sub-Femtomolar Modulator of the Human STING Receptor."
This study, utilizing molecular dynamics equilibrated models of human STING (hSTING) for computer-based screening, identified CXL as the most potent non-nucleotide hSTING modulator to date, demonstrating dual modes of interaction: an agonist effect at micromolar concentrations and an unprecedented antagonistic effect at femtomolar to attomolar ranges (10^-15 to 10^-18 M).
Dr. Guida’s team employed a novel site-restriction docking protocol to reveal that two CXL molecules bind to the hSTING C-terminal domain, offering insights into its remarkable potency in THP-1 luciferase reporter assays.
This discovery, supported by his financial interest in IBIS Therapeutics, LLC, underscores Dr. Guida’s leadership in developing innovative immunotherapies with potential applications in cancer and infectious disease treatment.