Biography

The 2011 Heinz Lehmann Award will be presented to Dr. Rachel Tyndale and Dr. Donald Weaver at the 34th Annual Meeting of the Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology in Montreal, Quebec. This award, established by the Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology and sponsored by Eli Lilly Canada, is designed to recognize outstanding research achievements by Canadian scientists in the field of Neuropsychopharmacology.

Dr. Rachel Tyndale

Rachel F. Tyndale, PhD, is the Canada Research Chair in Pharmacogenetics, a Senior Scientist and Head of Pharmacogenetics at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and a Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry, Pharmacology and Toxicology, at the University of Toronto. Dr. Tyndale is also the vice chair of NIH's Pharmacogenomic Research Network which consists of 14 scientific and 5 resource hubs (~$200 Million).

The Tyndale group focuses on pharmacogenetic variation in enzymes and drug targets and the resulting impact on drug dependence, in particular smoking. This has led to the identification of risk factors for use, for amount used and ability to quit (with and without treatment) among different world populations and age groups, ultimately resulting in new strategies for personalization of treatment. Based on the differences in withdrawal between genetic groups, they have used fMRI to show differences in cue-evoked brain responses between the groups. The Tyndale group also studies the regulation and expression of drug metabolizing enzymes in the brain and their role in interindividual variation in drug response and neurotoxicity. Recently they have demonstrated for the first time, that the CYPs are functional in vivo within the brain of a living animal, and further that this alters drug response in the absence of alterations in hepatic activity or plasma drug levels. This is a first demonstration of a significant role for drug metabolism within the brain altering drug response.

Dr. Tyndale was a board member for the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, the International Society for the Study of Xenobiotics and Microsomes and Drug Oxidations. She is on a number of editorial boards and is an associate editor for Nature journal's Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (Impact >8). Recent awards include the Ochsner Award Relating Smoking and Health from the American College of Chest Physicians, the CCNP Innovations in Neuropsychopharmacology award, North American ISSX New Investigator Award, the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Young Investigator Award, as well as citation awards. Dr. Tyndale has supervised >100 scientists, post-doctoral fellows and students. Dr. Tyndale has 12 active grants, sits on a number of grant review panels, and is on the scientific planning committee for multiple conferences.

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Dr. Donald Weaver

Donald Weaver, MD, PhD is an internationally recognized research leader in university-based drug design and discovery for neuro/psychological disorders. He is unique, being a practicing neurologist with a PhD in medicinal chemistry/drug design - the only person so-qualified in Canada. He has published widely in all aspects of brain-related drug discovery in journals such as Nature Medicine, The New England Journal of Medicine, Neurology, Drug Discovery Today, and the Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience. Dr. Weaver has published many widely-used methods for computer-aided drug design, and has devised the most-cited three-dimensional model of the y-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurotransmitter receptor protein. He has designed and co-developed two drugs that have reached Phase III human trials and has four others in preclinical development; one of which (tramiprosate) was the first "disease-modifying" small molecule anti-amyloid drug in the world to reach Phase III human clinical trials for Alzheimer's Disease. Dr. Weaver also designed and co-developed a drug (Kiacta) that has received Orphan Drug Status designation in the United States and Orphan Medicinal Product designation in Europe for systemic amyloidosis and cerebral angiopathy. Dr. Weaver has more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, has published a widely used textbook on drug design (Medicinal Chemistry: A Molecular and Biochemical Approach to Drug Design, Oxford University Press, 2005), has more than 330 abstracts at conferences, has been an invited speaker at more than 25 pharmaceutical company conference and at more than 45 national and international conferences, and holds 27 patents with another 62 patents pending. He has won numerous awards including the 2009 PRIX GALIEN (Canada's most prestigious biopharmaceutical research award); the 2007 CENTENNIAL AWARD (American award for being "one of the two researchers in the world with the highest likelihood of discovering a "curative" drug for Alzheimer's"); the 2003 BERNARD BELLE AU AWARD IN MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY (from the Canadian Society for Chemistry for most outstanding medicinal chemistry research in Canada); CANADA'S TOP 40 UNDER 40 AWARD (in 1996, for being "one of Canada's top leaders in innovation, science and humanitarianism"); and, the 1991 S. WEIR MITCHELL AWARD (American award for "best neurology researcher in world under age 40 years").

Dr. Weaver received his MD from Queen's University in 1981, later obtaining a PhD in drug design in 1986. His PhD thesis research concerned the design, development and optimization of novel molecular classes as potential drugs for chronic disorders such as dementia and the neuropsychological co-morbidities of epilepsy. From 1988-2002, Dr. Weaver was on faculty at Queen's University, becoming a full professor in 1996 and ultimately Head of Neurology (1998-2001). During this time he was a Professor in the Departments of Medicine (Neurology) and Chemistry. In 2002, he relocated to Dalhousie University as a Canada Research Chair, Tier 1, in neurological drug design. At Dalhousie University, he is a professor in the Departments of Medicine (Neurology) and Chemistry pursuing research with an emphasis on the design, development and implementation of molecules as potential neurological/psychiatric drugs.

Dr. Weaver is also one of Canada's leaders in creating spin-off biotech companies to achieve translation of his neuropsychopharmacological research via commercialization of drug molecules. He has co-founded seven biotechnology start-up companies. In the 1990s he founded Neurochem Inc., a company which at its height employed over 200 scientists. In recent years, he co-founded Q-RNA Inc., a company based in New York City, which was dedicated to drug development for dementia (Q-RNA was acquired by Neuro HiTech Inc.). He also co-founded Treventis Corporation, a Halifax-based company dedicated to the development of therapeutics and imaging diagnostics for dementia. Because of these activities, Dr. Weaver has pioneered the concept of "micropharma" (i.e., small companies with fewer than 10 employees to do high-risk drug discovery and commercialization projects); he recently published a "much blogged about" paper discussing the concept of micropharma in Drug Discovery Today.

In summary, both Drs. Rachel Tyndale and Donald Weaver have made significant contributions to the field of neuropsychopharmacology and are very worthy recipients of the 2011 Heinz Lehmann Award. Congratulations to Drs. Tyndale and Weaver!