LDDN Biographies

Kenneth R. Auerbach, MS

Kenneth Auerbach is a computer scientist with a background in theoretical physics. His experience includes 12 years at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Draper Laboratory, and Harvard Medical School creating and implementing mathematical algorithms in diverse fields including epidemiology, image and signal processing, and high-energy physics. He has published research papers on Tuberculosis control strategies, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, and on computer modeling of optical systems in the S.P.I.E. Proceedings. Ken is a member of the bioinformatics group and provides researchers and collaborators assistance and support for their computational needs. 

Justin Boyd, PhD
Justin Boyd joined the Leads Discovery group at the Laboratory for Drug Discovery in Neurodegeneration as a research scientist in 2008. He brings to LDDN expertise in high content analysis, stem cell biology and neuroscience.  Prior to his appointment at LDDN, Dr. Boyd worked at the National Institutes of Health as a Postdoctoral Fellow and as a visiting Scientist for Evotec, a German pharmaceutical company.  Dr. Boyd’s areas of interest include drug discovery and development, stem cell biology, and neurodegeneration.  Dr. Boyd has a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Sciences with a specialty in Neuroscience from the University of Tennessee and a B.S. in Biology from Rhodes College.

April Case, MS

April Case is a cell biologist with 12 years industrial experience. Her areas of specialization include: cell-based and enzyme-based assay development, small molecule drug discovery, and biochemistry. April received a Masters Degree in Biochemistry from Boston University, and a Bachelors degree from Tufts University. She worked for four years at Genetics Institute in the SMDD group, and for the four years prior to coming to LDDN she worked at EPIX Medical in Cambridge, MA.

Sungwoon Choi, PhD

Sungwoon Choi joined the Medicinal Chemistry group of LDDN in December 2001. Previously, he was a research fellow in Nuclear Medicine/Radiology at the Mass General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, MA where he involved in the development of radiolabeled organic molecules targeting brain, heart etc. and therapeutics for cocaine abuse/addiction treatment with NIDA/NIH. Dr. Choi obtained his PhD on Design, Synthesis and Structure-Affinity Relationship Studies on Piperazine Ring Analogs of GBR 12909 & GBR 12935: Preliminary Studies for the Cocaine Antagonists and Radioligands at Dopamine Transporter Sites from Northeastern University, Boston, USA. His research interests include the experimental design of dopamine adduct and synthesis of drug candidates in CNS disease for the fast track drug development.

John Concannon, BA
John Concannon joined the LDDN as a research specialist in 2008. His interests include developmental neurotoxicology and neurobiology, with particular emphasis on the pathologies underlying learning and memory deficits in neurodegenerative disease. He has 4 years of research experience in the field of cellular neurobiology as well as 3 years (concurrent) in the field of developmental neurotoxicology. John is currently a member of the automation staff at LDDN, and oversees the day-to-day operation and maintenance of the High Throughput Screening (HTS) equipment and compound library.

Greg Cuny, PhD

Greg Cuny is the Director of Medicinal Chemistry at the LDDN.  He received a PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BS from Grove City College. Dr. Cuny’s main research interests are medicinal chemistry, utilization of transition metals in organic synthesis and natural product synthesis.

Marcie Glicksman, PhD

Marcie Glicksman, PhD, is Senior Director of the Leads Discovery Group of LDDN. Dr. Glicksman has extensive experience in assay development, high throughput screening, and chemical databases, as well as animal pharmacology and preclinical development. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Brown University and PhD in Neuroscience and has been in drug discovery in industry for thirteen years. Previously, she was at the start-up company, Descartes Therapeutics focused on developing pain therapeutics using imaging techniques. Before this, she was Director of Leads Discovery at Cubist leading a group in the development of antibiotics with a structure-based drug design approach using x-ray crystallography and chemical modeling and resulting in lead molecules suitable for testing in animal models. Before this, she was in Leads Discovery at DuPont-Merck (later DuPont Pharmaceuticals) and Cell Biology at Cephalon. She led the assay development and screening program for a cell-based protease project, and numerous G-protein coupled receptors, many of which were continued when Bristol Myers Squibb bought DuPont Pharmaceuticals. She also has led a program for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease that resulted in co-inventorship of CEP1347, a drug candidate directed at a novel kinase, currently in Phase III clinical trials.  She was elected in 2005 to the Board of Directors for the Society for Biomolecular Sciences and currently serves as the Chairman. 

Eiblis Goldings, BA

Eiblis Goldings is an administrative coordinator of research operations in the LDDN. Ms. Goldings has 20+ years experience in increasingly responsible positions in academic and research settings as well as in the private sector. For the last 8 years, she has been active in the fields of medical research; grant writing and management, and laboratory coordination and support functions. Her responsibilities include Steering Committee coordination, as well as direction of ongoing LDDN research operations.

Malik Hellal, PhD

Malik Hellal joined the medicinal chemistry group of LDDN in September 2008. He received his PhD in Organic and Medicinal Chemistry from University of Strasbourg in France. Dr. Hellal's main research interests are the development of new synthetic methodologies and its application in medicinal chemistry.

Mickey Huang, BS

Mickey Huang received her Bachelors degree in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Irvine (UCI).  Mickey has experience in assay development, high thoughput screening (HTS), robotics/automation, mammalian cell biology, molecular biology, and drosophila genetics and behavior. Prior to the LDDN, Mickey was a member of the model organisms group at EnVivo Pharmaceuticals.

Joydev Laha, PhD

Joydev Laha joined the LDDN after his postdoctoral experiences at North Carolina State University, NC and Mayo Clinic, MN. He received his PhD from the National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India. Dr. Laha's primary research interests are medicinal chemistry and the development of new synthetic methodology and its application to the synthesis of biologically relevant molecules.

Lixin Qiao, PhD

Lixin Qiao’s primary research interests are rational drug design, focused-library assisted hit-to-lead and lead optimization in drug discovery. Dr. Qiao received a PhD at the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science. Before coming to the LDDN, Dr. Qiao held a Postdoc position from 1996 to 1999 at Georgetown University Medical Center with Prof. Alan P. Kozikowski.

Eli Schuman, BS

Eli Schuman has 6 years experience in HTS and automation. Prior to managing automation at the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center, he worked at Abbott Laboratories and Pfizer. He received his BS from the University of Connecticut.

Kathleen Seyb, PhD

Kathleen Seyb joined the Leads Discovery group at the Laboratory for Drug Discovery in Neurodegeneration as a research scientist in 2006 after a post-doctoral fellowship that involved developing and implementing a high-throughput assay and screening the LDDN compound library.  Kathleen's primary areas of interest include drug discovery and development, cell biology, and neuroscience.  Kathleen has a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Kansas and a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Memphis.  

Xin Teng, PhD

Xin Teng joined the LDDN after a post-doctoral position in Prof. Amir Hoveyda's group at Boston College. Dr. Teng, who holds a PhD in Biotechnology from Tokyo Institute of Technology, is interested in development of new synthetic methodologies and their application in efficient organic synthesis.

Xuechao Xing, PhD

Xuechao Xing, research scientists at the LDDN, has a PhD in Organic Chemistry from Universität Essen and Max-Planck-Institut für Strahlenchemie in Germany. He received his M.S. in Chemistry and Fine Chemical Technology and his BS in Chemistry and Photographic Chemistry from East China University of Chemical Technology & Institute of Fine Chemical Technology and East China University of Chemical Technology, Shanghai, China, respectively.