Tudor I. Oprea, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor
Chief, Translational Informatics Division
Department of Internal Medicine
Health Sciences Center
The University of New Mexico
Accelera Diagnostics, LLC (STC start-up)
Azano Biotech (STC start-up)
Dr. Oprea has disclosed 19 inventions, received four issued U. S. patents, has four pending patent applications, an option to license agreement with local start-up company Accelera Diagnostics, LLC, and a license agreement with local start-up Azano Biotech for several compounds for the diagnosis and treatment of cancers.
Dr. Oprea’s technologies are focused on integrating chemical and biomedical informatics and the application of knowledge management and data mining in drug discovery and repurposing, with a focus on small molecules, translational-research informatics, and health-record data mining. He and his co-inventors successfully identified selective, potent compounds for a number of biologically important targets, which include GPER (the G-protein estrogen receptor), the formyl peptide receptors FPR1 and FPR2, the small GTPases Rac1 and Cdc42, and the ABCG2 efflux transporter. Dr. Oprea’s work has led to clinical trials for Raltegravir, an anti-AIDS medicine, and Ketorolac, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, both studied as anti-cancer agents at the UNM Cancer Center.
In 2002, he founded Sunset Molecular Discovery LLC, a company that produces the chemogenomic databases WOMBAT and WOMBAT-PK. Dr. Oprea holds Guest Professor appointments at the Sahlgrens Academy Institute of Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and at the Department of Systems Biology, Technical University of Denmark, in Copenhagen. His most recent NIH award is “Illuminating the Druggable Genome Knowledge Management Center” (1U54CA189205-01).
Issued U. S. Patents
| 7,875,721, | Compounds for Binding to ER Alpha/Beta and GPR30, Methods of Treating Disease States and Conditions Mediated Through These Receptors and Identification Thereof, issued January 25, 2011 |
| 8,487,100, | Compounds for Binding to ER Alpha/Beta and GPR30, Methods of Treating Disease States and Conditions Mediated Through These Receptors and Identification Thereof, issued July 16, 2013 |
| 8,835,506, | Methods and Related Compositions for the Treatment of Cancer, issued September 16, 2014 |
| 8,889,689 | Bifunctional Metnase/Intnase Inhibitors and Related Compositions and Methods of Treatment of Cancer |
Pending Patent Applications
- Modulators of GTPases and Their Use
- Novel Bifunctional Metnase/Intnase Inhibitors and Related Compositions and Methods of Treatment of
- Cancer
- Modulators of GTPases and Use In Relevant Treatment
- Methods and Related Compositions for the Treatment of Cancer