Robert J Devita, PhD

Drug discovery target identification and validation to meet the needs of patients has become even more challenging in spite of the huge amounts of genomic and metabolomic data available today.  Close collaboration between biological and chemical sciences is vital to determine biological mechanisms of disease and to discover approaches to positively impact the disease state through intervention using molecular therapeutics. The research program of our laboratory is to develop novel chemical and biological tools in collaboration with our colleagues across the wide variety of therapeutic areas of interest to the Mount Sinai Research Community.  Targets meeting sufficient criteria of validation have the opportunity to enter into the drug discovery portfolio of the Experimental Therapeutics Institute. 

The DeVita Laboratory supports many drug discovery and development activities including:

-      evaluation of high throughput and virtual screens

-      hit validation and follow-up

-      lead identification

-     chemical tools for in vivo studies in preclinical animal models of disease

-  lead optimization with the eventual goal of  identification of candidates for clinical studies. 

In addition, an important focus of the laboratory is to develop key chemical and biochemical tools necessary to create translational and target engagement biomarkers, including imaging agents, to further understand the impact on disease states and underlying biology to effectively intervene in the designated disease pathway. 

The laboratory works toward the identification of novel chemical matter by developing new chemical processes and syntheses in the areas of heterocyclic chemistry and carbon-carbon bond forming reactions to access unexploited chemical space.