Prof. Labros Meimetis (PI)
Labros obtained his Ph.D. (2012) in Chemistry from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver Canada, where he focused on the total synthesis of biologically active marine natural products and their pharmacophore analogues. This was to enable pre-clinical evaluation and included inhibitors of the PI3K pathway, androgen receptor and cathepsin K. Labros then continued to pursue his passion for designing new molecules with unique properties during a postdoctoral position (2012-2016) at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. During this time, Labros invented a series of bio-orthogonal fluorogenic imaging probes based on the tetrazine/trans-cyclooctene click chemistry platform which exhibited the largest fluorescent enhancement values reported thus far. He then joined Sutro Biopharma (2016-2019) as a Senior Scientist where he was able to combine his expertise in drug design and bioconjugation to develop new linker-payloads for use as antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) targeting cancer. Labros then moved on to the business side of the biotech industry and led Chronus Pharmaceuticals as CEO (2019-2020) where his team developed PET imaging agents for infectious diseases. He then returned to his roots as a discovery chemist in the Department of Radiology at Stony Brook Medical School as an Assistant Professor (2020-2023). Recently, Labros joined the Department of Radiology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison as a Research Assistant Professor and is continuing his pursuit of inventing new drugs for difficult to treat cancers.
Dr. Dariusz Śmiłowicz
Darek obtained his B.Sc. and his M.Sc. at the Nicolaus Copernicus University (Poland). He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Germany). During his Ph.D. period, Darek was working extensively on the development of therapeutically relevant metal-peptide bioconjugates using Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis protocols (SPPS). Additionally, he was focused on orthogonally spin-labeled BIM peptides for EPR studies of protein-protein interactions within BCL-2 family proteins. Darek is also interested in the synthesis of drug delivery systems activated selectively by cold plasma. He joined the Meimetis group to explore new metal-based imaging probes and therapeutics for targeted anti-cancer therapy. In his free time, Darek and his teddy bear Miki (presented on the left picture) enjoying together to the gym and working in the garden.
