Peter Parker, a postdoctoral fellow in the MRC-PPU from 1979-1982 has sold the company he founded to Genentech for US $160 million.
Peter founded PIramed with Mike Waterfield, Paul Workman and Srivivas Akkaraju in 2003 to develop small molecule therapeutics targeting phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinases Ã_± and Ã_´ for the treatment of cancer and certain immune-based disorders, respectively. The first product targeting PI 3-kinase Ã_± is currently undergoing Phase 1 clinical trials.
While holding an MRC Postdoctoral Training Fellowship at Dundee in Philip Cohen's laboratory, Peter identified the amino acid residues in glycogen synthase that become phosphorylated in response to adrenalin and dephosphorylated in response to insulin. His seminar discovery that insulin induced the dephosphorylation of glycogen synthase at the sites targeted by glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) (Parker et al (1983) Eur.J.Biochem 130, 227-234) paved the way for the subsequent identification of protein kinase B (PKB) as the enzyme that mediates the insulin-induced inhibition of GSK3 and activation of glycogen synthase.
After leaving Dundee, Peter carried out a second three year postdoc with Mike Waterfield at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund's research institute in London (now called the London Research Institute (LRI) of Cancer Research UK) becoming Head of the Signal Transduction Laboratory at LRI in 1985. The following year he moved with Mike Waterfield to the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at Middlesex Hospital London as Head of its Cell Regulation Laboratory. He returned to LRI as a Princiipal Scientist in 1990. Since 2006 he has had a joint appointment at LRI and Kings College London, where he is Head of the Division of Cancer Studies. Peter was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society in 2006 for his major contributions to our understanding of Protein Kinase C and its roles in cell regulation.
Peter founded PIramed with Mike Waterfield, Paul Workman and Srivivas Akkaraju in 2003 to develop small molecule therapeutics targeting phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinases Ã_± and Ã_´ for the treatment of cancer and certain immune-based disorders, respectively. The first product targeting PI 3-kinase Ã_± is currently undergoing Phase 1 clinical trials.
While holding an MRC Postdoctoral Training Fellowship at Dundee in Philip Cohen's laboratory, Peter identified the amino acid residues in glycogen synthase that become phosphorylated in response to adrenalin and dephosphorylated in response to insulin. His seminar discovery that insulin induced the dephosphorylation of glycogen synthase at the sites targeted by glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) (Parker et al (1983) Eur.J.Biochem 130, 227-234) paved the way for the subsequent identification of protein kinase B (PKB) as the enzyme that mediates the insulin-induced inhibition of GSK3 and activation of glycogen synthase.
After leaving Dundee, Peter carried out a second three year postdoc with Mike Waterfield at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund's research institute in London (now called the London Research Institute (LRI) of Cancer Research UK) becoming Head of the Signal Transduction Laboratory at LRI in 1985. The following year he moved with Mike Waterfield to the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at Middlesex Hospital London as Head of its Cell Regulation Laboratory. He returned to LRI as a Princiipal Scientist in 1990. Since 2006 he has had a joint appointment at LRI and Kings College London, where he is Head of the Division of Cancer Studies. Peter was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society in 2006 for his major contributions to our understanding of Protein Kinase C and its roles in cell regulation.