NANCY E. KOHL, Ph.D.
Senior Director,
Cancer Biology and Therapeutics

Nancy Kohl holds a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from Columbia University.  She did post-doctoral work at the MIT Center for Cancer Research. Dr. Kohl joined Merck in 1987 as a Senior Research Biochemist, leading the molecular and cell biology effort on the HIV protease program.  She joined the Cancer Research Department in 1990 and has led various cancer drug discovery efforts over the past 14 years.  In 2003 Dr. Kohl was appointed Head of the Cancer Research Department at the West Point, PA site and in 2004 relocated to MRL Boston to establish the Oncology group.

Dr. Kohl has had a long-standing interest in molecular oncology, beginning with the identification and characterization of the N-myc gene in the early 1980s.  For most of her career at Merck, she has pursued her interest in the development of anti-cancer agents, and has worked on cancer drug discovery programs in the areas of signal transduction, cell cycle regulation and angiogenesis.

Key Publications, 2003 – Present
deSolms SJ, Ciccarone TM, MacTough SC, Shaw AW, Buser CA, Ellis-Hutchings M, Fernandes C, Hamilton KA, Huber HE, Kohl NE, Lobell RB, Robinson RG, Tsou NN, Walsh ES, Graham SL, Beese LS, Taylor JS.
Dual protein farnesyltransferase-geranylgeranyltransferase-I inhibitors as potential cancer chemotherapeutic agents. J Med Chem. 2003 Jul 3;46(14):2973-84.

Lobell RB, Davide JP, Kohl NE, Burns HD, Eng WS, Gibson RE.
A cell-based radioligand binding assay for farnesyl: protein transferase inhibitors. J Biomol Screen. 2003 Aug;8(4):430-8.

Sepp-Lorenzino L, Rands E, Mao X, Connolly B, Shipman J, Antanavage J, Hill S, Davis L, Beck S, Rickert K, Coll K, Ciecko P, Fraley M, Hoffman W, Hartman G, Heimbrook D, Gibbs J, Kohl N, Thomas K.
A novel orally bioavailable inhibitor of kinase insert domain-containing receptor induces antiangiogenic effects and prevents tumor growth in vivo. Cancer Res. 2004 Jan 15;64(2):751-6.

Bilodeau MT, Balitza AE, Koester TJ, Manley PJ, Rodman LD, Buser-Doepner C, Coll KE, Fernandes C, Gibbs JB, Heimbrook DC, Huckle WR, Kohl N, Lynch JJ, Mao X, McFall RC, McLoughlin D, Miller-Stein CM, Rickert KW, Sepp-Lorenzino L, Shipman JM, Subramanian R, Thomas KA, Wong BK, Yu S, Hartman GD.
Potent N-(1,3-thiazol-2-yl)pyridin-2-amine vascular endothelial growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors with excellent pharmacokinetics and low affinity for the hERG ion channel. J Med Chem. 2004 Dec 2;47(25):6363-72.

Hardwick JS, Yang Y, Zhang C, Shi B, McFall R, Koury EJ, Hill SL, Dai H, Wasserman R, Phillips RL, Weinstein EJ, Kohl NE, Severino ME, Lamb JR, Sepp-Lorenzino L.
Identification of biomarkers for tumor endothelial cell proliferation through gene expression profiling. Mol Cancer Ther. 2005 Mar;4(3):413-25.

Cox CD, Breslin MJ, Mariano BJ, Coleman PJ, Buser CA, Walsh ES, Hamilton K, Huber HE, Kohl NE, Torrent M, Yan Y, Kuo LC, Hartman GD.
Kinesin spindle protein (KSP) inhibitors. Part 1: the discovery of 3,5-diaryl-4,5-dihydropyrazoles as potent and selective inhibitors of the mitotic kinesin KSP. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2005 Apr 15;15(8):2041-5.

Tao W, South VJ, Zhang Y, Davide JP, Farrell L, Kohl NE, Sepp-Lorenzino L, Lobell RB.
Induction of apoptosis by an inhibitor of the mitotic kinesin KSP requires both activation of the spindle assembly checkpoint and mitotic slippage. Cancer Cell. 2005 Jul;8(1):49-59.