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Headshot of Blake R. Peterson

Blake R. Peterson, PhD

Chair of the Division of Medicinal Chemistry & Pharmacognosy

Professor

Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy
College Administration
Research Areas: Cancer, Division of Medicinal Chemistry & Pharmacognosy, Chemical Biology, Chemical Synthesis

606 Riffe Building

peterson.1119@osu.edu
(614) 247-7729
 Professional Website

Professional Interests

Dr. Peterson’s research group works to design, synthesize, and discover small molecules that affect the proliferation of cancer cells and associated immune cells that support malignancy. To identify these compounds, the Peterson laboratory synthesizes fluorescent molecular probes as tools for drug discovery. These probes are used to create target-based or phenotypic drug discovery assays to identify anticancer agents with novel mechanisms of action. To optimize and evaluate these compounds, they use synthetic organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, and chemical biology approaches. In conjunction with high throughput screening by confocal microscopy, flow cytometry, and other related techniques, his laboratory identifies chemical probes of biological systems, uncovers mechanisms of biologically active agents, and discovers hit and lead compounds for the development of therapeutics.

Biography

Dr. Peterson’s educational background includes a BS in Chemistry from the University of Nevada Reno, a PhD in Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles, and postdoctoral training at Harvard University in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology as a Damon Runyon / Walter Winchell Cancer Research fellow. His first independent faculty position was at Penn State University, where he was an assistant and tenured associate professor of Chemistry. During this time, he co-founded Indigo Biosciences Inc., a leading provider of nuclear receptor and in vitro toxicology solutions that accelerate scientific decision-making. He later moved to the University of Kansas as a Regents Distinguished Professor of Medicinal Chemistry. In 2019, he joined the faculty of The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy as Professor and Chair of the Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy. He additionally holds appointments at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center as Co-Leader of the Translational Therapeutics Program and Co-Director of the Drug Discovery Shared Resource.

Education

  • B.S. Chemistry, University of Nevada, Reno, 1990
  • Ph.D. Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, 1994
  • Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Cancer Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University 1995-1998

Honors

  • Named the John W. Wolfe Chair in Cancer Research, 2020
  • Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2013
  • Regents Distinguished Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, The University of Kansas, 2008-2019
  • Leading Light Research Award, 2012
  • Named an Eminent Scholar by the Kansas Bioscience Authority, 2008
  • Elected Co-Chair of the 2007 Gordon Conference on Bioorganic Chemistry
  • Camille Dreyfus Teacher Scholar, 2004
  • American Cancer Society Research Scholar, 2003

Publications