Harren Jhoti
Harren Jhoti OBE FRS FMedSci FRSB FRSC (born 1962[1]) is an Indian-born British structural biologist whose main interest has been rational drug design and discovery.[3][4] He is president and chief executive officer (CEO) of biotechnology company Astex Pharmaceuticals ("Astex") which is located in Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Harren Jhoti | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1962 (age 60–61)[1] |
| Alma mater |
|
| Known for | Astex Pharmaceuticals |
| Awards | UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) Lifetime Achievement Award (2018) European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry Prous Institute-Overton and Meyer Award for New Technologies in Drug Discovery (2012) Royal Society of Chemistry Entrepreneur of the Year (2007) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Drug discovery Structural biology |
| Institutions | Astex University of Oxford |
| Thesis | X-ray structural studies on transferrins (1989) |
| Influences | Tom Blundell David Ian Stuart |
| Website | astx |
Career
Jhoti co-founded Astex with Tom Blundell and Chris Abell in 1999.[4][5] He pioneered the development of fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD),[3][6][7] an approach now widely used in industry and academia, which identifies small molecules with potential therapeutic potential as part of the drug discovery process. Jhoti was Astex's chief scientific officer until November 2007 when he was appointed CEO. In 2013, Astex was acquired for around USD $900 million[8] and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.
Prior to Astex, Jhoti was head of structural biology at GlaxoWellcome (now GSK). Before founding Astex in 1999, he was head of structural biology and bioinformatics at GlaxoWellcome in the UK (1991-1999). Prior to GlaxoWellcome, Jhoti was a post-doctoral scientist at the University of Oxford.[citation needed]
Jhoti received both his BSc (Hons) in biochemistry in 1985 and PhD in protein crystallography in 1989 from the University of London.
Honours, fellowships and awards
Jhoti's scientific achievements have been recognised by the Royal Society,[3] the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Royal Society of Biology and the Academy of Medical Sciences.[9] He has also received the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA)'s Lifetime Achievement Award (2018)[10] and the European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry's Prous Institute-Overton and Meyer Award for New Technologies in Drug Discovery (2012).[4] Jhoti has previously been recognised as the Royal Society of Chemistry's Entrepreneur of the Year Entrepreneur of the Year (2007).[5] He has also served on the board of the BIA between 2013-2015.[11]
Jhoti has been published in Nature and Science, and was featured in Time magazine after Astex was named a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum in 2005.[12]
Jhoti was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to cancer research and drug discovery.[13]
References
- ^ a b c Anon (2016). "Jhoti, Dr Harren". Who's Who. ukwhoswho.com (online Oxford University Press ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.286522. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) (subscription required)
- ^ Jhoti, Harren (1989). X-ray structural studies on transferrins. London.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of London. OCLC 940322045. Copac 29529053.
- ^ a b c Anon (2018). . Royalsociety.org. London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 2018-05-14. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where:
"All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License." --. Archived from the original on 2016-11-11. Retrieved 2018-05-23.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ a b c "Prous Institute - Overton and Meyer Award for New Technologies in Drug Discovery".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b Houlton, Sarah (2008). "Keeping it simple - Personal Profile" (PDF). Royal Society of Chemistry.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Brackley, Paul (2018). "How Astex founder Dr Harren Jhoti has changed the drug discovery process". Cambridge Independent.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Jhoti, Harren; Williams, Glyn; Rees, David C.; Murray, Christopher W. (2013). "The 'rule of three' for fragment-based drug discovery: where are we now?". Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 12 (8): 644–645. doi:10.1038/nrd3926-c1. ISSN 1474-1776. PMID 23845999.
- ^ "Japan's Otsuka to buy Astex Pharma for about $900 million: Nikkei". Reuters. 4 September 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Dr Harren Jhoti - The Academy of Medical Sciences". Acmedsci.ac.uk. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
- ^ "Harren Jhoti receives BIA Lifetime Achievement Award at gala dinner". Manufacturing Chemist. 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Harren Jhoti, Appointments". Companies House. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Astex chosen by the World Economic Forum as a Technology Pioneer for 2005". Astex. 2004. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "No. 63918". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2022. p. N14.
This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.