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Wayne Fairbrother Director: Protein Engineering |
"I joined Genentech in 1992 and, together with Nick Skelton, established a Protein Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) group that focuses primarily on the application of techniques for studying the solution structures of proteins and protein-protein or protein-ligand complexes of therapeutic interest. I am currently Director of the Protein Engineering department. I was originally attracted to Genentech by the highly collaborative research environment, in general, and the scientists in the Protein Engineering department, in particular, who were dedicated to investigating important protein structure/function and molecular recognition problems."
Current Projects "Over the last several years I have contributed structural biology support to a number of projects aimed at characterizing important protein-peptide interactions. I also have a leadership role in multi-disciplinary projects in which structure-based design is being used to identifying small-molecule antagonists of a protein-protein interaction. A small molecule resulting from these efforts is currently being tested in clinical trials."
Collaborations "Everything I have done at Genentech has been collaborative in nature. In addition to many collaborations within the Protein Engineering department, I have had particularly stimulating and productive interactions with many scientists involved in the discovery and development of small-molecule therapeutics."
Inspiration/Vision "At Genentech I am surrounded by many dedicated scientists and technicians with the common goal of discovering and developing novel therapeutics to treat important human diseases. I am proud to be able to contribute to this common goal by characterizing potential target proteins or by using such structural information to identify or design potential drug candidates. I hope that one day these efforts will result in a drug that will have significant impact on the lives of cancer patients."