Xiang-Qun (Sean) Xie

Xiang-Qun (Sean) Xie Associate professor, Medicinal Chemistry and Biophysics, University of Houston (UH)Faculty member, UH Institute of Molecular Design Faculty member, UH Department of Biology and Biochemistry Faculty member, W.M. Keck Center for Computational & Structural Biology Founding Director, UH Pharmacoinformatics Research Center Adjunct Associate Professor, Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Connecticut Xiang-Qun (Sean) Xie is associate professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Biophysics at the University of Houston. He is also a faculty member of the UH Department of Biology and Biochemistry; the W.M. Keck Center for Computational & Structural Biology; and the UH Institute of Molecular Design, an affiliate of the Texas Learning and Computation Center (TLC2). Dr. Xie serves as an advisory committee member for the National Institutes of Pharmacoinformatics Training Program at Houston GCC, and as a director of the Chemistry Co-ordinating Unit for the GCC-Chemical Genomics Screening Center. In addition, Dr. Xie maintains a connection with the University of Connecticut’s School of Pharmacy as adjunct associate professor; before joining UH he was director of that university’s Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Lab. Dr. Xie’s research focuses on the development of new, innovative medicines. He studies GPCRs (G-Protein Coupled Receptors), an important and growing class of drug targets that represent approximately 65 per cent of all drugs marketed worldwide. Expected to yield the blockbuster drugs of tomorrow, GPCRs are difficult to crystallize, or functionally express in other media for structural studies. Dr. Xie’s team is using advanced technologies to investigate the G-protein coupled cannabinoid (CB2) receptor, which is expressed at high levels in human spleens and tonsils and is involved in the signal transduction processes within the immune system. Their goal is to provide researchers with new methods of creating highly effective immuno-therapy drugs. As co-director of the Data Mining and Machine Learning Group (DM&MLG) at the University of Houston (UH), Ricardo Vilalta is focused on the development of data analysis techniques with applications to challenging problems in physics, geology, astronomy, environmental sciences and medicine. The group has applications in planetary science and particle physics, such as the automated analysis and characterization of Martian topography. Dr. Xie is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Chemical Society (ACS), the International Cannabinoid Research Society (ICRS), and the Sino-American Pharmaceutical Professionals Association (SAPA). He holds a Ph.D. in Medical Chemistry from the University of Connecticut, a Post-doctoral degree in Biophysics from MIT, and an Executive MBA from the University of Connecticut. Dr. Xie has received numerous awards and honors, including the North America China Bridge International Award (2000), the Chinese Science Foundation Award (1999), and the National Institutes of Health FIRST Award (1997). He is a member of the board of directors of the Chinese Association of Professionals in Science and Technology (CAPST) and chair of the CAPST Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Society. HE serves as reviewer for several industry journals, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and funding agencies around the world.