Stephen Frye

Dr. Stephen Frye is the Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), where he co-founded and previously directed the Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery (CICBDD). He holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from UNC Chapel Hill (1987) and a B.S. from North Carolina State University (1983). Before academia, he served as Vice President of Discovery Medicinal Chemistry at GlaxoSmithKline, overseeing global drug discovery programs that produced FDA-approved oncology drugs like Avodart, Tykerb, and Pazopanib.

His research focuses on chromatin regulation mediated by methyl-lysine modifications, developing chemical probes for epigenetic reader domains, and targeting TAM receptors (e.g., MERTK) in cancer immunotherapy. Key projects include inhibitors for cancer resistance pathways and synergistic combinations with existing therapies. Recent work explores FERM domain inhibitors for Alzheimer’s disease and combinatorial strategies to overcome EGFR-mutant lung cancer resistance.

Dr. Frye’s lab has advanced 130+ publications in chemical and medicinal chemistry, and his CICBDD collaborative projects have advanced clinical candidates into human trials. His scientific achievements include the 2021 AAAS Fellowship for oncology drug discovery contributions.