Dr. Jair Lage De Siqueira-Neto, Ph.D.

Associate Adjunct Professor
Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

jair
Jair L. Siqueira-Neto, Ph.D.

Prounouns:  He|Him|His

Email
jairlage@health.ucsd.edu
Phone
(858) 822-5595
Support

Reimbursements

Pam Fletcher-Rice
pfletcherrice@health.ucsd.edu
858-822-6854

Human Resources

Mandi Garhartt (formerly Walker)
mjwalker@health.ucsd.edu
858-246-0080

Fund Management

Heidi Rosenthal
herosenthal@health.ucsd.edu

Research Summary

Dr. Siqueira-Neto’s has 15 years of international experience in discovering and developing therapies for infectious diseases, including SARS-CoV-2, causing agent of COVID-19. His participation in discoveries have brought drug candidates to pre-clinical (Pyronaridine for Chagas Disease) and clinical stages (SLV213, aka K777, for COVID-19) of development. The Siqueira-Neto Lab is focused on the validation of screening assays enabling interrogation of large libraries of small molecules and natural products for the identification of hits with relevant biological activity to treat human diseases, especially but not limited to infectious diseases. The lab also investigates the interaction of host and pathogens to further understand disease pathogenesis and to identify new druggable targets.

Dr. Siqueira-Neto has recently given talks to the non-scientific public to explain about COVID-19 and the principles of immunization through the vaccine.

Academic Achievements

Education: B.S. in Biological Sciences (2003) University of Campinas, SP - Brazil; Ph.D. in Genetics & Molecular Biology (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); Director of the Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases (CDIPD.org) (2013-present); Assistant Adj.Professor at SSPPS, UC San Diego (2014-2018), Associate Adj. Professor at SSPPS, UC San Diego (2018-present), and UC San Diego Screening Core Director (2017-present). Dr. Siqueira-Neto is also a member of the UC San Diego Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee since 2017, member of the SSPPS Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, Co-Chair of the SSPPS Office of Admission and Outreach, and serves as a counselor and mentor for Scouts BSA science projects (Nova Award and Supernova Award).

Key Contributions
  • Advanced the field of drug discovery and development against Chagas disease and leishmaniasis, identifying new chemical structures, some of which have advanced to clinical candidates
  • Advanced the field of drug discovery and development against viruses of pandemic potential, including flavivirus (Zika) and coronavirus (COVID-19).
  • 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.
Selected Publications

(view more)

Potential Collaborative Programs
  • Drug discovery for infectious diseases
  • High-Throughput, High-Content Screening assay development