Conor R. Caffrey, Ph.D.

Source: https://pharmacy.ucsd.edu/faculty/caffrey Parent: https://pharmacy.ucsd.edu/research/faculty

Professor Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Pronouns: He|Him|His

Email

ccaffrey@health.ucsd.edu

Phone

(858) 534-5340

Research Summary

Drugs and Diagnostics for infectious diseases of poverty

Infectious diseases associated with poverty, including the neglected tropical diseases, are overlooked in terms of the number, efficacy and safety of the drugs available for treatment. As part of the Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, and with a focus on schistosomiasis, African trypanosomiasis and hookworm disease, three broad themes underpin my team’s research: (1) the identification and validation of protein targets for drug development; (2) the pre-clinical and translational development of drugs, including the development and application of associated technologies (high-content and high-throughput screening platforms, Machine Learning, protein expression and animal models of infection); and (3) the development of point-of care (POC) diagnostics. To facilitate our cross-disciplinary research interests, my team collaborates with academia and the pharmaceutical industry worldwide, including with bioinformaticians, medicinal and clinical chemists, structural biologists and automated systems specialists. Finally, with international partners, my team is actively engaged in training and capacity-building with researchers from low-/middle-income countries to translate drug discovery practices and technologies back to their home institutions.

Academic Achievements

Education: B.Sc. (Hons.) in Zoology, University College Dublin, Ireland (1988); Ph.D. in Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology, University College Dublin, Ireland (1994).

Awards and Honors: Wellcome Trust Traveling Research Fellowship to Europe (1994-1996); Scientific American Magazine’s ‘SciAM50’ award for outstanding contributions to biomedical research (2007); Associate Editor for the Journal of Parasitology (2005-present); Specialist Editorial Board for the International Journal for Parasitology - Drugs and Drug Resistance (2011-present). Associate Editor to the journal Pharmaceuticals (2017-present).

Leadership Experience: Director of the Biochemistry Core, Sandler Center for Drug Discovery, UCSF (2001–2011); Senior Scientist, Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, UCSF (2012–2014); Nematode and Trematode Core Director to the CDIPD at UC San Diego (2015–2022); Director of the CDIPD at UC San Diego (2022–present).

Vice-Chair UC San Diego–IACUC (2017–2021); Co-Chair SSPPS Academic Oversight Committee (2023–present);

Teaching

• Pharmaceutical Chemistry (SPPS 221)
• Contemporary Topics in Pharmacology I (SPPS 218A)
• Principles of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Drug Development B (SPPS 263B/SPPS 298)
• Pharm. D. Required Student Research Project (SPPS 210)
• Individual Research for Undergraduates (BISP 199/CHEM 199)
• Microbiology Lab (SPPS 238/SOMC 242)
• Graduate School Fundamentals: Introduction to Graduate Studies in the School of Biological Sciences (BGGN 200)
• Research Discussion (BGRD 200)
• Advanced Experimental Methods in Biology (BGGN 271)
• Pre-Clinical and Clinical Regulatory Submissions & Strategy (DDPM 203)

Key Contributions

• Validated various proteins (e.g., proteases, kinases and phosphodiesterases) as drug targets for treatment of parasitic infections
• Identified assorted synthetic and natural product small molecule chemistries as leads for treatment of parasitic infections
• The application of technologies such as high-throughput and high-content screening, and machine learning, to drug discovery for schistosomiasis
• Biomechanical principles underlying facets of pathogen biology

Selected Publications

• Silva EB, et al. Enhancing schistosomiasis drug discovery approaches with optimized proteasome substrates. Protein Sci. 2025 34(6):e70180. doi: 10.1002/pro.70180.PMID: 40411405; PMCID: PMC12102734.
• Yeh YT et al. Biomechanics of parasite migration within hosts. Trends Parasitol. 2024 40(2):164-175. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2023.12.001. PMID: 38172015 .
• Liu LJ et al. Carmaphycin B-based proteasome inhibitors to treat human African trypanosomiasis: structure-activity relationship and in vivo efficacy. ACS Infect Dis. 2024 10(12):4182-4193. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.4c00441. PMID: 39589805; PMCID: PMC11650654.
• Lucero B et al. Protein-protein interactions: developing small-molecule inhibitors/stabilizers through covalent strategies. Trends Pharmacol Sci. 2023 44(7):474-488. doi: 10.1016/j.tips.2023.04.007. PMID: 37263826; PMCID: PMC11003449

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Potential Collaborative Programs

• We collaborate with NGOs (e.g., BIOVentures for Global Health (BVGH)) to host and train scientists from low/middle-income countries, including under the Fulbright Program. We have also worked with HBCUs and various programs (e.g., UC San Diego’s Summer Training Academy for Research Success (STARS)) to train undergraduate students in research methods.
• Collaborations with industry and non-profits are a key component of our research. For example, we have worked with Merck, Janssen and the Calibr-Skaggs Institute for Innovative Medicines to discover small molecule drug leads for infectious diseases of poverty.
• We welcome industry training or placement opportunities for students interested in the drug discovery process.