Tim Willson is chief scientist of the SGC-UNC, an open-discovery network for protein kinases based at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. He has more than 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical research with a track record in discovery of first-in-class clinical candidates. Throughout his career, Willson has been an advocate for research on pioneer drug targets. He led the Glaxo program on orphan nuclear receptors that uncovered their role in regulation of human metabolism and was co-discoverer of obeticholic acid, a breakthrough medicine for liver diseases targeting FXR. Willson has been a long time supporter of precompetitive chemistry in early drug discovery and was a scientific founder of the SGC Epigenetic Chemical Probes project. He is widely recognized for scientific leadership in chemical biology and was named one of the world’s 400 most influential biomedical researchers. Outside of science, Willson enjoys the challenge of long course triathlons and has completed six Ironman 70.3 distance races.
Willson has been a long-time supporter of precompetitive chemistry as a mechanism to bring innovation to early drug discovery. His team has made potent and selective chemical probes for orphan nuclear receptors widely available in the scientific community. He was a scientific founder of the SGC Epigenetic Chemical Probes project that led to the release into the public domain of more than 30 chemical probes that specifically inhibit enzyme modifiers and protein readers of the histone tails.
Shirley DJ, Nandakumar M, Cabrera A, Yiu B, Puumala E, Liu Z, Robbins N, Whitesell L, Smith JL, Lyons S, Mordant AL, Herring LE, Graves LM, Couñago RM, Drewry DH, Cowen LE, Willson TM
J Med Chem. 2025-3-20 . .doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.5c00097
PMID: 40110855Puumala E, Nandakumar M, Yiu B, Stogios PJ, Strickland BG, Zarnowski R, Wang X, Williams NS, Savchenko A, Andes DR, Robbins N, Whitesell L, Willson TM, Cowen LE
Nat Commun. 2025-3-5 . 16(1):2156 .doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-57346-z
PMID: 40038303Ghoshal A, Tse EG, Hossain MA, Asressu KH, Merten EM, Sears JD, Howell S, Perveen S, Burdick J, Morales NL, Martinez SA, Law I, Davenport BJ, Morrison TE, Streblow ZJ, Streblow DN, Mordant AL, Webb TS, Cabrera A, Herring LE, Arrowsmith CH, Pearce KH, Moorman NJ, Heise MT, Couñago RM, Brown PJ, Willson TM
Sci Rep. 2025-3-3 . 15(1):7264 .doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-91673-x
PMID: 40025188Selvaratnam L, Willson TM, Schapira M
J Med Chem. 2025-2-11 . .doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c01909
PMID: 39933052Ghoshal A, Tse EG, Hossain MA, Asressu KH, Merten EM, Sears JD, Howell S, Perveen S, Burdick J, Morales NL, Martinez SA, Law I, Davenport BJ, Morrison TE, Streblow ZJ, Streblow DN, Mordant AL, Webb TS, Cabrera A, Herring LE, Arrowsmith CH, Pearce KH, Moorman NJ, Heise MT, Couñago RM, Brown PJ, Willson TM
Res Sq. 2024-11-28 . .doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5363451/v1
PMID: 39606462Merten EM, Sears JD, Leisner TM, Hardy PB, Ghoshal A, Hossain MA, Asressu KH, Brown PJ, Tse EG, Stashko MA, Li K, Norris-Drouin JL, Herring LE, Mordant AL, Webb TS, Mills CA, Barker NK, Streblow ZJ, Perveen S, Arrowsmith CH, Couñago RM, Arnold JJ, Cameron CE, Streblow DN, Moorman NJ, Heise MT, Willson TM, Popov KI, Pearce KH
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024-10-10 . 121(42):e2409166121 .doi: 10.1073/pnas.2409166121
PMID: 39388272Ong HW, Yang X, Smith JL, Taft-Benz S, Howell S, Dickmander RJ, Havener TM, Sanders MK, Brown JW, Couñago RM, Chang E, Krämer A, Moorman NJ, Heise M, Axtman AD, Drewry DH, Willson TM
Molecules. 2024-9-14 . 29(17): .doi: 10.3390/molecules29174158
PMID: 39275006Ghoshal A, Asressu KH, Hossain MA, Brown PJ, Nandakumar M, Vala A, Merten EM, Sears JD, Law I, Burdick JE, Morales NL, Perveen S, Pearce KH, Popov KI, Moorman NJ, Heise MT, Willson TM
J Med Chem. 2024-9-5 . .doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c01346
PMID: 39235978Edfeldt K, Edwards AM, Engkvist O, Günther J, Hartley M, Hulcoop DG, Leach AR, Marsden BD, Menge A, Misquitta L, Müller S, Owen DR, Schütt KT, Skelton N, Steffen A, Tropsha A, Vernet E, Wang Y, Wellnitz J, Willson TM, Clevert DA, Haibe-Kains B, Schiavone LH, Schapira M
Nat Commun. 2024-7-5 . 15(1):5640 .doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-49777-x
PMID: 38965235Ong HW, Yang X, Smith JL, Dickmander RJ, Brown JW, Havener TM, Taft-Benz S, Howell S, Sanders MK, Capener JL, Couñago RM, Chang E, Krämer A, Moorman NJ, Heise M, Axtman AD, Drewry DH, Willson TM
J Med Chem. 2024-7-3 . .doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c00962
PMID: 38959455