Paul Trippier

Paul Trippier is a Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). He serves as Co-Director of the T32 Training Program in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Drug Discovery and Co-Leader of the Translational Cancer Research Program at the Buffett Cancer Center.

• Research Interests: Small molecule drug discovery for cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, focusing on synthetic medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, and molecular pharmacology.
• Key Discoveries: Development of potent AKR1C3 inhibitors for drug resistance reversal, succinate dehydrogenase inhibitors for cancer, neurolysin activators for stroke, and multi-target agents for neurodegeneration.
• Grants: Funded by NCI, NINDS, private foundations, and industry collaborations.

Publications Trends: Recent work emphasizes neurolysin activators with BBB permeability, AKR1C3-targeted PROTACs, and structural optimization of coumarin and imidazole scaffolds for dual applications in cancer and neuroscience.

• Scientific Recognition:
  • Vada Kinman Oldfield Award 2024 (Alzheimer’s research)
  • Excellence in Mentoring Award 2023 (UNMC)
  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
  • UNMC Distinguished Scientist Award 2021
  • Stanford Top 2% Cited Scientists 2022
  • ACS Medicinal Chemistry Division Secretary

Training and Leadership: Mentored numerous graduate students, postdocs, and junior researchers (e.g., Ahmed Morsy, Bader Huwaimel, Shafikur Rahman). Led drug discovery projects for rare diseases (CLN3/6) and cancer, with patents issued and collaborations across institutions.