John Cochran Email & Phone Number

Boston, Ma

Head of Medchem Scale-Up Group since its inception in 2000.- Supervised 17 chemists (9 Ph.D., 5 M.S.; 3 B.S.)- Synthesized starting materials, intermediates, and preclinical tox lots for medicinal chemistry on multigram to kilogram scale.- Synthesized standards for various assays- Synthesized cold-labeled compounds- Performed kilo-scale enzymatic reactions- Proficient in flow chemistry. Used flow chemistry on kilo scale- Worked with several CROs in North America, Europe and Asia- Designed and updated an internal group website used to communicate with stakeholders- Experienced with DOE and reaction optimization- Member of the Chemistry Leadership Team (1997-2006, 2018-)- Recipient of the 2022 Grootenhuis Discovery Award (internal award given to a Vertexian who has displayed exemplary scientific leadership in the discovery of a breakthrough therapeutic candidate)- Recipient of a 2020 Platinum VOCAP (Vertex Outstanding Contributor Award Program) awarded for significant contributions above the core company values- Finalist for 2014 Vertex Outstanding Research AwardMedicinal Chemist (1996-2002)- Supervised 4 chemists (2 M.S., 2 B.S.)- Managed a lead generation team that synthesized hundreds of very potent and selective heterocyclic leads on several kinase programs including JNK3, GSK3, LCK, SYK, and JAK3.- Chemistry Head of the p38 2nd-generation program. - Designed and synthesized very potent and selective inhibitors of p38 - Designed synthetic routes for previously unknown substitution patterns on pyridine - Made presentations to external collaborators on the program. - Produced two clinical candidates that were substantially more potent and had much better physical properties than the 1st-generation inhibitors. - Filed several patents concerning the 1st-generation compounds and related scaffolds

Atlanta, Ga

- Designed and researched a proposal to use Pummerer chemistry to synthesize furans and to apply the methodology to lignin synthesis- Authored and investigated a proposal to synthesize 2-aminofurans using Pummerer or diazo chemistry and to use them to make highly substituted anilines, phenols, indoles, and the general framework found in the Amaryllidaceae, Erythrina, Lycopodium, and Aspidospermina classes of alkaloids.- Designed the synthetic strategy for indole synthesis using a vinylogous Pummerer rearrangement.- Authored and supervised the research on a proposal to use Pummerer chemistry to synthesize aromatic glides that can be used to make complex polycyclic systems.- Supervised two graduate students working on the 2-aminofuran project and one graduate student on the vinylogous Pummerer project.

Muscle Shoals, Al

- Synthesized potential urease inhibitors in gram to several hundred gram quantities using high temperature and high pressure equipment- Performed gas-phase reactions in fluidized bed reactors containing transition-metal catalysts to find an efficient industrial process for making dicyandiamide- Characterized compounds and analyzed their decomposition kinetics using 1H and 31P NMR, HPLC, and GC.- Authored and researched a proposal to modify urea crystal morphology in fluid fertilizers- Developed software for receiving and analyzing data from various instrumentation.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Organic Chemistry

Synthesized heterocyclophanes and studied their binding interactions with small neutral molecules in nonaqueous media. Complexation.

Bachelor Of Science (B.S.), Industrial Chemistry, Computer Science (Double Major)