Daniel Cheney Email & Phone Number

Lawrence Township, Nj, Us

Lawrence Township, Nj, Us

Led the Integrated Technologies Group, which is dedicated to the integration of physics - and crystallographic - based methods in project support environments through user-friendly interfaces. Management of external collaborations aimed at developing efficient and cutting edge quantum chemical methods and machine learning models that enhance understanding of drug- protein interactions and inform molecular design. Continued development of the Quantum Chemical Workbench - a suite of easy-to-use tools representing best practices for accurate modeling of molecular structure, properties and interactions. Worked within leadership team to help cultivate an impact-oriented culture, as well as shaping and implementing strategic plans.

Lawrence Township, Nj, Us

Management of Computer-Aided Drug Design Group in Hopewell, NJ. Worked with CADD leadership team in cultivating an impact-oriented culture, objective-setting and shaping and implementing strategic plans. Managed CADD support of the fibrosis and cardiovascular portfolios. Initiated external collaborations involving the development of efficient quantum-chemical methods for assessing molecular interactions, culminating in new insights into drug / protein binding. Led the development of the Quantum Chemical Workbench - a suite of user friendly tools which enable accurate modeling of molecular structure, properties and interactions, including automated mapping of hydrogen bonding potentials using any number of probes and geometric ranges, highly accurate and robust pKa prediction, accurate torsion potentials in a variety of solvents, full energetic decomposition analysis of drug molecules bound to their protein targets, analysis of the underlying driving forces of intramolecular interactions and assessment of conformational probabilities based on quantum chemically derived free energies. Project support of cardiovascular and fibrosis programs. Developed deep expertise in the structural biology of Serpins such as PAI-1, and led successful campaign of epitope mapping of anti-PAI-1 inhibitory antibodies using a novel strategy linking epitopes to potential mechanisms of action. This work delineated best practices for antigen design. Developed protocol for creating comprehensive reference resources for target proteins, which included all known mutational, structural biological, and homolog, ortholog data. Proved crucial in project team discussions, and external collaborations.

Lawrence Township, Nj, Us

Continued project support in all therapeutic areas. Co-developed highly impactful pipeline for evaluation of thousands of idea molecules using MD and a web-based environment with which to view annotated results in 3D. Led highly successful fragment discovery effort which addressed key liabilities of advanced chemotypes. Leadership role in integrating physics - based methods and crystallographic methods in molecular design and SAR analysis. Development of automated quantum chemical assessments of hydrogen bonding strength and pKa's which to our knowledge is unique in terms of accuracy.

Lawrence Township, Nj, Us

Impactful support of drug discovery projects in immunology and cardiovascular therapeutic areas. Involved in a collaboration which introduced the concept of protein ensemble docking to the computational community. De novo design of novel chemotypes for blocking T-type calcium channels.

Computer - Aided Drug Design. Support of drug discovery programs, particularly in thrombosis. Successful de novo design of multiple chemotypes of factor Xa inhibitors. Co-developed such methods as site - and pharmacophore- based conformational searching, early workflows for pKa prediction using first principles, and pharmacophore-based methods for evaluating binding site similarities and off-target binding. Developed efficient steered MD approaches for evaluating idea structure - protein binding. Conducted among the earliest studies of large scale, quantum - chemically derived electrostatic potentials of related protein pockets to elucidate SAR.

Involved in therapeutic projects in immunology and bone metabolism. Rational design and synthesis of bioactive small molecules.

Taught undergraduate organic chemistry. Designed and implemented laboratory experiments in synthetic organic chemistry. Provided lectures in synthetic methodology at various universities at both the undergraduate and graduate levels throughout South Africa, including a graduate-level lecture series in synthetic organic chemistry at the University of Capetown.

Worked with James French, an alumnus of the Woodward group, in the Isolation, derivatization and structural elucidation of anti-tumor natural products.

Worked with James French, an alumnus of the Woodward group, in the Isolation, derivatization and structural elucidation of complex anti-tumor natural products.