Drug Discovery, High- Throughput, High-Content Screening
Associate Adjunct Professor
Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Dr. Siqueira-Neto’s research has focused on molecules and natural products against human diseases, especially infectious diseases and cancers.
Education:
B.S. in Biological Sciences (2003) University of Campinas, SP - Brazil; Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics (2007) University of Campinas, SP - Brazil; Postdoctoral Fellow (2007-2009) Institut Pasteur Korea - South Korea.
Awards and Honors:
Outstanding Mentor of 2017 – UC San Diego Faculty Mentorship Program Award (2017); National Center of Leadership in Academic Medicine Award (2016); Finalist of the Brazilian Diaspora Network Award in Health Sciences (2015); Sage Scholar (2015); GSK Fastrack Competition (2013); DNDi Project of the year (2010); CAPES International Scientific Interchange Program Fellowship – Korea (2006); CAPES Doctor of Philosophy Fellowship (2003-2007); Brazilian Corporation of Agricultural Research (Embrapa) Fellowship (2001-2003); FAPESP Fellowship for Scientific Initiation (2000-2001)
Leadership Experience:
Team Leader and Drug Discovery Program Coordinator at Institut Pasteur Korea (2009-2012); Kinetoplastida Core Director from the Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, UCSF & UCSD (2013-present); Assistant Adjunct Professor at Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, UC San Diego (2014-present), UC San Diego Screening Core Director (2017-present).
- Advanced the field of drug discovery and development against Chagas disease, identifying new chemical structures, some of which have advanced to clinical candidates
- Identified new active molecules against Leishmania parasites
- Advanced the field of drug discovery and development against viruses, including Zika virus
- Contributed in the field of new therapies for glioblastoma
- Molecular targets of interest include protease inhibitors and RNA polymerase inhibitors
- Contributed with methods to identify molecular targets of novel active compounds and study the therapeutic mechanism of action.
- Bernatchez JA, et al. (2020) Drugs for the Treatment of Zika Virus Infection. Journal of medicinal chemistry. 63(2):470-89.
- Zhu Z, et al (2019) Zika Virus Targets Glioblastoma Stem Cells through a SOX2-Integrin alphavbeta5 Axis. Cell Stem Cell. 26(2):187-204.e10
- Boudreau PD, et al. (2019) Design of gallinamide A analogs as potent inhibitors of the cysteine proteases human cathepsin L and Trypanosoma cruzi cruzain. Journal of medicinal chemistry. 62(20):9026-9044.
- Bernatchez JA, et al. (2019) Activity of Selected Nucleoside Analogue ProTides against Zika Virus in Human Neural Stem Cells. Viruses. 11(4):365
- Mack SC, et al. (2019) Chromatin landscapes reveal developmentally encoded transcriptional states that define human glioblastoma. J Exp Med. 216(5):1071-1090
- Beck S et al. (2019)Mechanism of Action of Methotrexate Against Zika Virus. Viruses. 11(4):338
- Siqueira-Neto JL, et al. (2018) Cysteine proteases in protozoan parasites. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 12(8):e0006512
- Bernatchez JA, et al. (2018) Development and Validation of a Phenotypic High-Content Imaging Assay for Assessing the Antiviral Activity of Small-Molecule Inhibitors Targeting Zika Virus. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 62(10):e00725-18
- McCall LI, et al. (2018) Experimental Chagas disease-induced perturbations of the fecal microbiome and metabolome. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 12(3):e0006344
- Moon S et al. (2014) An Image-Based Algorithm for Precise and Accurate High Throughput Assessment of Drug Activity against the Human Parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Plos One. 9(2):e87188
- Siqueira-Neto JL et al. An Image-Based High-Content Screening Assay for Compounds Targeting Intracellular Leishmania donovani Amastigotes in Human Macrophages. Plos Neglected Tropical Diseases. 6(6):e1671.
- Freitas-Junior LH et al. (2012) Chatelain E, Kim HA, Siqueira-Neto JL. Visceral leishmaniasis treatment: What do we have, what do we need and how to deliver it? International Journal For Parasitology-Drugs and Drug Resistance. 2:11-9.
- Siqueira-Neto JL et al. (2010) Antileishmanial High-Throughput Drug Screening Reveals Drug Candidates with New Scaffolds. Plos Neglected Tropical Diseases. 4(5):e675
- Drug discovery for neglected tropical diseases
- High-Throughput, High-Content Screening assay development