Michio Kurosu

Michio Kurosu received his bachelor's degree from the Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Science (04/1990) and his master’s degree from Osaka University (04/1990). He obtained a Ph.D. degree from Osaka University, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences (04/1995)  and he was a Research Fellow at Harvard University, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (06/1999).  From 1999 to 2002 he served as an Assistant Professor at The Florida State University, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. After that, he was a Project leader at Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Massachusetts, and supervised Ph.D.chemists and research associates in the chemical technology group and developed new apoptotic agents for cancer chemotherapy. From 2003 to 2025 he served as a senior research fellow at Harvard University, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. There he developed a new synthetic route for halicondrin B analog, eribulin (approved in 2016). From 2005 to 2006 he was Assistant Professor at Colorado State University, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology. There he pursued the development of new antibacterial agents targeting unexploited drug targets (cell wall biosynthesis, menaquinone biosynthesis, RNA-polymerase, bacterial kinases). Between 2006 and 2009 he had a joint appointment at Colorado State University (Department of Chemistry, Colorado State University, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Assistant Professor, Research Faculty of the Mycobacteria Research Laboratory). From 2009 to 2010 he worked as an Associate professor at the same university with a Joint Appointment in the Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Molecular Biology Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology. From 2010 to 2016 he served as an Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, College of Pharmacy, and from 2009 to 2011 he also served as Affiliate Faculty at the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University. Since 2017 he has been a Professor at the University of Tennessee HealthScience Center, College of Pharmacy, Affiliate Faculty of Chemical BiologyProgram (UTHSC for Cancer Research). Dr. Kurosu has a long-term interest in identifying new drug targets for the treatment of metastatic cancers and MDR bacterial infections.  He has a broad background in organic chemistry / medicinal chemistry and biochemistry, with special training and expertise in preclinical drug discovery (hit to lead).  His research includes anticancer and antibacterial drug discoveries associated with Gram-negative bacteria, Mycobacterium spp., spore-forming bacteria (e.g., Clostridioides difficile),and solid cancers (e.g., pancreatic, breast, and ovarian cancers).  As PIs on several NIH-and privately-funded programs, he has studied essential enzymes for the growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and glycosyl transferases in pancreatic and breast cancers.  Through these projects, he has successfully collaborated with other researchers (cancer biologists, structural biochemists, microbiologists, enzymologists, geneticists, industrial medicinal chemists, pharmacologists, physician-scientists, a formulationscientists).  One of the notable drug discovery projects is that he contributed to developing eribulin, a halichondrin Banalog with Harvard and industrial scientists.  He has developed concise syntheses of complex natural and unnatural molecules, designed/synthesized chiral small molecules, and generated focused libraries.  He also develops convenient assays amenable to HTS. He is primarily interested in membrane-associated proteins as drug targets.  These efforts have resulted in the discovery of several new drug leads effective against dormant M.tuberculosis, C. difficile spores, MDR-Acinetobacter baumannii, and fungus.  His recent studies on glycosyl transferases concluded that DAPGT1 (dolichyl-phosphateN-acetylglucosaminephosphotransferase1) can be a drug target to treat metastatic solid cancers without causing cytotoxicity against normal cells.  A new anticancer DPAGT1 inhibitor developed in his group is innovative.  A strong cytotoxic and antimitotic activity of a selective DPAGT1 inhibitor has been demonstrated in vivo using preclinical cancer models.  His lab has set up cytotoxicity assays against a panel of cancer cell lines and bacterial growth inhibitory assays against batteries of pathogens including BSL3 bacteria.  Basic biochemical assays and pharmacological evaluation including in vitro ADMET studies have been performed in his lab.   Honors include: 1999    First Year Assistant Professor Award, The Florida State University, Council on Research and Creativity 2016    JSPS International Fellowship Award (2016) 2016    CORNET Award (UTHSC 2106) 2016    ACS Publication Award 2017    JA Medal (J. Antibiotics 2017) 2017    Outstanding Reviewer in 2017 (The Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, ACS) 2018    An invited speaker at The 28th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (Madrid, Spain) 2019    UTRF Innovation Award