The Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery Core
CIIDI's Medicinal Chemistry & Drug Discovery Core is a specialized resource that provides the tools, facilities, and expertise for early drug discovery and preclinical evaluation.
Dr. Zuchao Ma, Assistant Professor of Surgery has twenty years of experience in small molecule synthesis, glycomimetics, carbohydrate chemistry and natural product chemistry.
The Core has two major focus areas:
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The Core serves to aid in the identification and characterization of biomedically important natural product compounds that may be useful as adjuvants, vaccines, therapeutics, and biological tools.
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The Core provides support for the synthesis, characterization, and preclinical evaluation of small molecule glycomimetics for potential use as adjuvants, vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. In addition, the Core offers preclinical evaluation and screening of natural product, synthetic, and small molecule compounds.
The overarching goal of the Core is to facilitate the discovery of new and novel therapeutics, diagnostics, adjuvants, and vaccines.
Specific services provided by the Core include, but are not limited to:
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Identification and physicochemical characterization of natural products. -
Synthetic chemistry support for drug, adjuvant, vaccine, therapeutic and diagnostic discovery.
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Rational drug design with a focus on small molecule glycomimetics.
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Preclinical evaluation of natural product and synthetic compounds.
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Assay development
For more information regarding the Core and the services CIIDI can provide, please contact:

Zuchao Ma, PhD
Assistant Research Professor Deptartment of Surgery
- maz001@etsu.edu
- 423-439-6261
- PO Box 70575Johnson City, TN 37614