Ward G. Walkup

About Ward G. Walkup

Collaborative and innovative biochemist/biophysicist with experience in small molecule & peptide drug discovery. Programmatic and Group /Technical leader, skilled at managing internal and external/CRO resources for protein production, biophysical (SPR, DSF, ITC, MST, Mass Photometry) and biochemical (FP, AlphaLISA, FRET) assays for small molecule, peptide and fragment lead discovery including ligandability assessment, screening, hit validation, hit to lead and mechanistic characterization of ligand interactions with soluble and membraneous oncology, immunology, autophagy and neuronal targets.

Experience

1. Director of Molecular Pharmacology

   Schrödinger

   Jan 2025 — Present · Framingham, MA, US

   Manage and lead lab based biophysics and biochemistry group within the Therapeutics Division, responsible for development and implementation of biophysical (SPR/GCI, MST, ITC, DSF/TSA, NanoDSF, DLS, Mass Photometry) and biochemical (AlphaLISA, FP, FRET) to support Schrodinger\'s drug discovery pipeline (Fragment/small molecule screening, hit validation, hit to lead and lead optimization). Management of external resources (CRO, Academic, consultants) for protein production, biophysical (SPR, DSF, MS, ITC, HDX, MST) and biochemical assays (NanoBRET, FP, FRET).

Education

• California State University, Chico

  Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.), Chemistry and Biochemistry

  1999 — 2003

• Caltech

  Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics

  2004 — 2013

Skills

• Polymerase Chain Reaction (Pcr)
• Molecular Cloning
• Mass Spectrometry
• Biochemistry
• Site Directed Mutagenesis
• Protein Purification
• Protein Expression
• Cell Culture
• Bioinformatics
• Biacore / Spr
• High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (Hplc)
• Protein Chemistry
• Dna Sequencing
• Molecular Biology
• Ngs
• Hplc
• Biacore
• Surface Plasmon Resonance
• Life Sciences
• Rnaseq
• Chromatography
• Cell Biology