Genentech: Ben Sellers | Principal Scientist (Cheminformatics), Discovery Chemistry & Computational Drug Discovery

Scientists / Our Scientists

"I am humbled every day by discoveries that increase our understanding of life and disease. I feel fortunate to work with others in developing these discoveries into medicines."

13

Years at Genentech

22

Publications at Genentech

2

Awards & Honors

I joined the Computational Drug Discovery group at Genentech in 2009. My role involves developing computational tools and modeling of potential drugs as part of therapeutic project teams. My background is also a mix of software engineering and science; I developed computer-aided design software for several years at Autodesk, Inc. before diving into protein modeling in the Jacobson lab at UCSF. Genentech is a fantastic, collaborative environment that values risk-taking and basic science.

Featured Publication

A Comparison of Quantum and Molecular Mechanical Methods to Estimate Strain Energy in Druglike Fragments.

J Chem Inf Model. 2017 Jun 26;57(6):1265-1275.

Sellers BD, James NC, Gobbi A.

I am primarily interested in the development and refinement of physics-based methods for predicting protein-ligand interactions. My work has included analysis of limitations in industry force fields relative to quantum calculations and development of methods for understanding pi-pi interactions. I have also combined fast, statistics-based methods with physics-based rescoring. Ongoing, I am interested in increasing industry use of molecular dynamics and free-energy calculations.

Discovery of Inhibitors of the Lipopolysaccharide Transporter MsbA: From a Screening Hit to Potent Wild-Type Gram-Negative Activity

Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, ISSN: 15204804 00222623

Vishal A. Verma; Lan Wang; Sharada Labadie; Jun Liang; Benjamin D. Sellers; Jian Wang; Liting Dong; Qiuyue Wang; Shuang Zhang; Zhongya Xu; Yexia Zhang; Yanan Niu; Xinxin Wang; John Wai; Michael F. T. Koehler; Huiyong Hu; Mary Kate Alexander; Mireille Nishiyama; Anh Miu; Yiming Xu; Jodie Pang; Anand K. Katakam; Mike Reichelt; Cary D. Austin; Hoangdung Ho; Jian Payandeh; Christopher M. Koth

Comparison of logP and logD correction models trained with public and proprietary data sets

Journal of Computer-Aided Molecular Design, ISSN: 15734951 0920654X

Ignacio Aliagas; Alberto Gobbi; Man-Ling Lee; Benjamin D. Sellers

Incorporating NOE-Derived Distances in Conformer Generation of Cyclic Peptides with Distance Geometry

Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, ISSN: 1549960X 15499596

Shuzhe Wang; Kajo Krummenacher; Gregory A. Landrum; Benjamin D. Sellers; Paola Di Lello; Sarah J. Robinson; Bryan T. Martin; Jeffrey K. Holden; Jeffrey Tom; Anastasia C. Murthy; Nataliya Popovych; Sereina Riniker

Incorporating NOE-Derived Distances in Conformer Generation of Cyclic Peptides with Distance Geometry

Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, ISSN: 15205142 15499596

Shuzhe Wang; Kajo Krummenacher; Gregory A. Landrum; Benjamin D. Sellers; Paola Di Lello; Sarah J. Robinson; Bryan T. Martin; Jeffrey K. Holden; Jeffrey Tom; Anastasia C. Murthy; Nataliya Popovych; Sereina Riniker

Comparison of logP and logD correction models trained with public and proprietary data sets

Journal of Computer-Aided Molecular Design, ISSN: 0920654X

Ignacio Aliagas; Alberto Gobbi; Man-Ling Lee; Benjamin D. Sellers

Discovery of Inhibitors of the Lipopolysaccharide Transporter MsbA: From a Screening Hit to Potent Wild-Type Gram-Negative Activity

Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, ISSN: 15204804 00222623

Vishal A. Verma; Lan Wang; Sharada Labadie; Jun Liang; Benjamin D. Sellers; Jian Wang; Liting Dong; Qiuyue Wang; Shuang Zhang; Zhongya Xu; Yexia Zhang; Yanan Niu; Xinxin Wang; John Wai; Michael F. T. Koehler; Huiyong Hu; Mary Kate Alexander; Mireille Nishiyama; Anh Miu; Yiming Xu; Jodie Pang; Anand K. Katakam; Mike Reichelt; Cary D. Austin; Hoangdung Ho; Jian Payandeh; Christopher M. Koth

Structure of the essential inner membrane lipopolysaccharide–PbgA complex

Nature, ISSN: 14764687 00280836

Thomas Clairfeuille; Kerry R. Buchholz; Qingling Li; Erik Verschueren; Peter S. Liu; Dewakar Sangaraju; Summer Park; Cameron Noland; Kelly M. Storek; Nicholas N. Nickerson; Lynn Martin; Trisha Dela Vega; Anh Miu; Janina Reeder; Maria Ruiz-Gonzalez; Danielle L. Swem; Guanghui Han; Daniel P. DePonte; Mark S. Hunter; Cornelius Gati; Sheerin Shahidi-Latham; Min Xu; Nicholas J. Skelton; Benjamin D. Sellers; Elizabeth Skippington; Wendy N. Sandoval; Emily J. Hanan; Jian Payandeh; Steven T. Rutherford

Implementation of the CYP Index for the Design of Selective Tryptophan-2,3-dioxygenase Inhibitors

ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, ISSN: 19485875

Brendan T. Parr; Richard Pastor; Benjamin D. Sellers; Zhonghua Pei; Firoz A. Jaipuri; Georgette M. Castanedo; Lewis Gazzard; Sanjeev Kumar; Xiaokai Li; Wen Liu; Rohan Mendonca; Roheeth K. Pavana; Hima Potturi; Cheng Shao; Venkata Velvadapu; Jesse P. Waldo; Guosheng Wu; Po-Wai Yuen; Zuhui Zhang; Yamin Zhang; Seth F. Harris; Angela Oh; Antonio G. DiPasquale; Kevin Dement; Hank La; Leanne Goon; Amy Gustafson; Erica Vanderporten; Mario R. Mautino; Yichin Liu

Towards an improved understanding of drug excipient interactions to enable rapid optimization of nanosuspension formulations

International Journal of Pharmaceutics, ISSN: 18733476 03785173

Joseph A. Ferrar; Benjamin D. Sellers; Connie Chan; Dennis H. Leung

GluN2A NMDA Receptor Enhancement Improves Brain Oscillations, Synchrony, and Cognitive Functions in Dravet Syndrome and Alzheimer's Disease Models

Cell Reports, ISSN: 22111247

Jesse E. Hanson; Keran Ma; Justin Elstrott; Martin Weber; Sandrine Saillet; Abdullah S. Khan; Jeffrey Simms; Benjamin Liu; Thomas A. Kim; Gui-Qiu Yu; Yelin Chen; Tzu-Ming Wang; Zhiyu Jiang; Bianca M. Liederer; Gauri Deshmukh; Hilda Solanoy; Connie Chan; Benjamin D. Sellers; Matthew Volgraf; Jacob B. Schwarz; David Hackos; Robby M. Weimer; Morgan Sheng; T. Michael Gill; Kimberly Scearce-Levie; Jorge J. Palop

Identification of Selective Acyl Sulfonamide-Cycloalkylether Inhibitors of the Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel (Na V ) 1.7 with Potent Analgesic Activity

Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, ISSN: 15204804 00222623

Shaoyi Sun; Qi Jia; Alla Zenova; Michael S. Wilson; Sultan Chowdhury; Thilo Focken; Jun Li; Shannon M. Decker; Michael Grimwood; Jean-Christophe Andrez; Ivan Hemeon; Tao Sheng; Chien-An Chen; Andrew D. White; David Hackos; Lunbin Deng; Girish Bankar; Kuldip Khakh; Elaine Chang; Rainbow Kwan; Sophia Lin; Karen Nelkenbrecher; Benjamin D. Sellers; Antonio G. DiPasquale; Jae H. Chang; Jodie Pang; Luis E. Sojo; Andrea Lindgren; Matthew Waldbrook; Zhiwei Xie; Clint Young; Johnson; C. Lee Robinette; Charles J. Cohen; Brian S. Safina; Daniel P. Sutherlin; Daniel F. Ortwine; Christoph Dehnhardt

Disrupting Gram-negative bacterial outer membrane biosynthesis through inhibition of the lipopolysaccharide transporter MsbA

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, ISSN: 10986596 00664804

Mary Kate Alexander; Anh Miu; Angela Oh; Mike Reichelt; Hoangdung Ho; Cecile Chalouni; Sharada Labadie; Lan Wang; Jun Liang; Nicholas N. Nickerson; Huiyong Hu; Lan Yu; Miaofen Du; Donghong Yan; Summer Park; Janice Kim; Min Xu; Benjamin D. Sellers; Hans E. Purkey; Nicholas J. Skelton; Michael F. T. Koehler; Jian Payandeh; Vishal A. Verma; Yiming Xu; Christopher M. Koth; Mireille Nishiyama

Aminoisoxazoles as Potent Inhibitors of Tryptophan 2,3-Dioxygenase 2 (TDO2)

ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, ISSN: 19485875

Zhonghua Pei; Rohan Mendonca; Lewis Gazzard; Richard Pastor; Leanne Goon; Amy Gustafson; Erica Vanderporten; Georgia Hatzivassiliou; Kevin Dement; Robert T. Cass; Po-Wai Yuen; Yamin Zhang; Guosheng Wu; Xingyu Lin; Yichin Liu; Benjamin D. Sellers

Structural basis for dual-mode inhibition of the ABC transporter MsbA

Nature, ISSN: 14764687 00280836

Hoangdung Ho; Anh Miu; Mary Kate Alexander; Natalie K. Garcia; Angela Oh; Inna Zilberleyb; Mike Reichelt; Cary D. Austin; Christine Tam; Stephanie K. Shriver; Huiyong Hu; Sharada Labadie; Jun Liang; Lan Wang; Jian Wang; Yan Lu; Hans E. Purkey; John Quinn; Yvonne Franke; Clark; Beresini; Man-Wah Tan; Benjamin D. Sellers; Till Maurer; Michael F. T. Koehler; Aaron T. Wecksler; James R. Kiefer; Vishal A. Verma; Yiming Xu; Mireille Nishiyama; Jian Payandeh; Christopher M. Koth

A novel NMDA receptor positive allosteric modulator that acts via the transmembrane domain

Neuropharmacology, ISSN: 18737064 00283908

Tzu-Ming Wang; Brandon M. Brown; Lunbin Deng; Benjamin D. Sellers; Patrick J. Lupardus; Heidi J. A. Wallweber; Amy Gustafson; Evera Wong; Matthew Volgraf; Jacob B. Schwarz; David Hackos; Jesse E. Hanson

A Comparison of Quantum and Molecular Mechanical Methods to Estimate Strain Energy in Druglike Fragments

Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, ISSN: 15205142 15499596

Benjamin D. Sellers; Natalie C. James; Alberto Gobbi

A Comparison of Quantum and Molecular Mechanical Methods to Estimate Strain Energy in Druglike Fragments

Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, ISSN: 1549960X 15499596

Benjamin D. Sellers; Natalie C. James; Alberto Gobbi

Chemalot and chemalot-knime: Command line programs as workflow tools for drug discovery

Journal of Cheminformatics, ISSN: 17582946

Man-Ling Lee; Ignacio Aliagas; Jianwen A. Feng; Thomas Gabriel; O'Donnell; Benjamin D. Sellers; Bernd Wiswedel; Alberto Gobbi

Computationally Discovered Potentiating Role of Glycans on NMDA Receptors

Scientific Reports, ISSN: 20452322

Anton V. Sinitskiy; Nathaniel H. Stanley; David Hackos; Jesse E. Hanson; Benjamin D. Sellers; Vijay S. Pande

GluN2A-selective pyridopyrimidinone series of nmdar positive allosteric modulators with an improved in vivo profile

ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, ISSN: 19485875

Elisia Villemure; Matthew Volgraf; Yu Jiang; Guosheng Wu; Cuong Q. Ly; Po-Wai Yuen; Aijun Lu; Xifeng Luo; Mingcui Liu; Shun Zhang; Patrick J. Lupardus; Heidi J. A. Wallweber; Bianca M. Liederer; Gauri Deshmukh; Emile G. Plise; Suzanne Tay; Tzu-Ming Wang; Jesse E. Hanson; David Hackos; Kimberly Scearce-Levie; Jacob B. Schwarz; Benjamin D. Sellers

Discovery of GluN2A-Selective NMDA Receptor Positive Allosteric Modulators (PAMs): Tuning Deactivation Kinetics via Structure-Based Design

Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, ISSN: 15204804 00222623

Matthew Volgraf; Benjamin D. Sellers; Yu Jiang; Guosheng Wu; Cuong Q. Ly; Elisia Villemure; Richard Pastor; Po-Wai Yuen; Aijun Lu; Xifeng Luo; Mingcui Liu; Shun Zhang; Liang Sun; Yuhong Fu; Patrick J. Lupardus; Heidi J. A. Wallweber; Bianca M. Liederer; Gauri Deshmukh; Emile G. Plise; Suzanne Tay; Paul Reynen; James Herrington; Amy Gustafson; Yichin Liu; Akim Dirksen; Matthias G. A. Dietz; Yanzhou Liu; Tzu-Ming Wang; Jesse E. Hanson; David Hackos; Kimberly Scearce-Levie; Jacob B. Schwarz

Positive Allosteric Modulators of GluN2A-Containing NMDARs with Distinct Modes of Action and Impacts on Circuit Function

Neuron, ISSN: 10974199 08966273

David Hackos; Patrick J. Lupardus; Teddy Grand; Yelin Chen; Tzu-Ming Wang; Paul Reynen; Amy Gustafson; Heidi J. A. Wallweber; Matthew Volgraf; Benjamin D. Sellers; Jacob B. Schwarz; Pierre Paoletti; Morgan Sheng; Qiang Zhou; Jesse E. Hanson

University of California, San Francisco, Ph.D. in Biophysics & Quantitative Biology – 2008
Cornell University, B.S. in Applied and Engineering Physics – 1993

Genentech Scholar Graduate Fellowship – 2004
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Honorable Mention – 2003