PhD: Yale University
Postdoctoral training: University of Pennsylvania & Pennsylvania State University
High-Throughput Screening (HTS) is a pharmaceutical industry standard for the discovery of drugs with new or improved properties that is now increasingly being implemented in academic settings as well. Miniaturization of bioassays and development in sensitive and rapid detection instrumentation permit thousands of compounds to be assayed for a desired function in vitro, in cellulo and even in vivo, while reducing the costs to the researchers. When integrated with modeling and/or cheminformatics, the number of compounds that needs to be evaluated could be reduced significantly by in silico methods to make screening a reasonable and, yet, powerful option for chemical probe/drug discovery in an academic setting, where resources could be limited.
As a liaison between the Small Molecule Screening Facility at UMMS and the UMass Amherst campus, I intend to identify venues for complementary and mutually beneficial collaborations and thoroughly assist in their implementation. Toward this goal, I plan to acquire and curate a 100,000-compound library that can be formatted for both drug discovery and drug development needs of UMass researchers. In addition, I am offering integrated cheminformatic and computational modeling services for the purpose of discovery and further elaboration of discovered chemotherapeutics. Specifically, I plan to assist researchers across campus with thorough analyses of HTS results and various associated computational needs, including cheminformatic, modeling, docking, and dynamic simulation methods.
Figure 1. Integrated tools for the discovery/optimization of cellular probes and drugs
Lorès P, Coutton C, El Khouri E, Stouvenel L, Givelet M, Thomas L, Rode B, Schmitt A, Louis B, Sakheli Z, Chaudhry M, Fernandez-Gonzales A, Mitsialis A, Dacheux D, Wolf JP, Papon JF, Gacon G, Escudier E, Arnoult C, Bonhivers M, Savinov SN, Amselem S, Ray PF, Dulioust E, Touré A. Homozygous missense mutation L673P in Adenylate Kinase 7 (AK7) leads to primary male infertility and Multiple Morphological Anomalies of the Flagella but not to Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia. Hum Mol Genet. 2018 Jan 22. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddy034; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29365104
Savinov SN, Heuck AP. Interaction of Cholesterol with Perfringolysin O: What Have We Learned from Functional Analysis? Toxins (Basel). 2017, 9, pii: E381. doi: 10.3390/toxins9120381; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29168745
Dagbay KB, Bolik-Coulon N, Savinov SN, Hardy JA. Caspase-6 Undergoes a Distinct Helix-Strand Interconversion upon Substrate Binding. J Biol Chem. 2017, 292, 4885-4897; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28154009
Fatunmbi O, Abzalimov RR, Savinov SN, Gershenson A, Kaltashov IA. Interactions of Haptoglobin with Monomeric Globin Species: Insights from Molecular Modeling and Native Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry. Biochemistry. 2016, 55, 1918-28; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26937685
Escoffier J, Lee HC, Yassine S, Zouari R, Martinez G, Karaouzène T, Coutton C, Kherraf ZE, Halouani L, Triki C, Nef S, Thierry-Mieg N, Savinov SN, Fissore R, Ray PF, Arnoult C. Homozygous mutation of PLCZ1 leads to defective human oocyte activation and infertility that is not rescued by the WW-binding protein PAWP. Hum Mol Genet. 2016, 25, 878-91; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26721930
Chen Y., Savinov S.N., Mielech A.M., Cao T., Baker S. C., Mesecar A.D. X-ray structural and functional studies of three tandemly-linked domains of nsp3 from murine hepatitis virus reveal conserved functions. J Biol Chem. 2015, 290, 25293-306; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26296883
Conley J.M., Meyer J.M., Nuss A.B., Doyle T.B., Savinov S.N., Hill C.A., Watts V.J. In vitro and in vivo evaluation of AaDOP2 receptor antagonists reveals antidepressants and antipsychotics as novel lead molecules for yellow-fever mosquito control. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2014, 252, 53–60; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25332454
Eissler, C.L., Mazón G., Powers B.L., Savinov S.N., Symington L.C., Hall M.C. The cdk/cdc14 module controls activation of the yen1 holliday junction resolvase to promote genome stability. Mol Cell. 2014, 54, 80–93; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24631283
Eggler, A.L. & Savinov S.N. Chemical and Biological Mechanisms of Phytochemical Activation of Nrf2 and Importance in Disease Prevention. Rec Adv Phytochem 2013, 43, 121–155; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26855455
Verhoeven KD, Altstadt OC, Savinov SN. Intracellular detection and evolution of site-specific proteases using a genetic selection system. Appl Biochem Biotechnol. 2012, 166, 1340-54; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22270548
