L Nathan Tumey Bs, PhD

L. Nathan Tumey joined Binghamton University in 2017, following 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. He received his PhD in chemistry from Duke University in 2001, under the supervision of Michael Pirrung. His research emphasis was on the medicinal chemistry of LpxC inhibitors as antibacterial agents against gram negative bacteria. Following his PhD, Tumey joined Athersys, Inc. in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was responsible for hit-to-lead development for multiple medicinal chemistry programs, most notably the development of two novel series of antagonists for CRTH-2 as a potential treatment for asthma. In 2006, Tumey joined Pfizer, Inc. where he led a multidisciplinary team of scientists developing inhibitors of IRAK-4, a kinase involved in the innate immune response which is critical to signaling from Toll-like receptors. Under his leadership, the team from Pfizer was able to develop highly selective sub-nM inhibitors of the enzyme that showed promise in preclinical models of inflammation.