Mark Reed, BSc, DPhil

Scientist, Krembil Research Institute (Krembil)

Keywords: medicinal chemistry, synthetic organic chemistry, drug discovery, small molecules, neuroscience, oncology

Dr. Reed is a medicinal chemist and Scientist at the Krembil Brain Institute, Director of UHN Therapeutics, and co-director of UHN’s Collaborative Centre for Drug Discovery and Therapeutics. These groups are focused on translating disease biology research into druggable targets to enable new therapeutic development. In collaboration with the Structural Genomics Consortium, the centre is focused on the discovery of chemical probes, hit-to-lead and lead optimization, molecular modelling, and intellectual property development. The goal is to work harmoniously with academic researchers to develop a road map for the discovery and development of small molecule therapeutics that can be commercialized into meaningful treatments for disease.

Dr. Reed has over 20 years of industrial experience in drug discovery, working in startups (Treventis Corporation, Toronto), biotech (ICOS corporation, Seattle) and large pharma (Schering Plough Research Institute, Cambridge, MA). He has implemented modern medicinal chemistry practices to identify and advance de-risked lead compounds towards the clinic in the areas of CNS, anti-infectives, immunology, and oncology. He has over 60 publications and patents in areas of synthetic organic chemistry, neurodegeneration, neuropathic pain, and inflammation.

Dr. Reed is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto. He is also the co-editor for Heterocyclic Chemistry, Synfacts, Thieme.

Dr. Reed's research interests are at discovery of novel small molecule therapeutics for targets at the neuroscience and oncology interface.

For a list of Dr. Reed's publications, please visit PubMed.

Selected Publications

  1. Feng Y, Goncalves MM, Jitkova Y, Keszei AFA, Yan Y, Sarathy C, St-Germain J, Kenney TMG, Tcheng M, Trudel V, Mancini RS, Upadhyay R, Hurren R, Gronda M, Schultz M, Soriano K, Lees K, Pomroy NC, Currie SQW, Privé GG, Reed MA, Yudin AK, Penn LZ, Arrowsmith CH, Raught B, Mazhab-Jafari MT, Vahidi S, Schimmer AD. Serine phosphorylation facilitates protein degradation by the human mitochondrial ClpXP protease. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Feb 4;122(5):e2422447122. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2422447122. Epub 2025 Jan 29. PMID: 39879245.
  2. Zipinotti dos Santos a. D, Elbaz M, Branchard E, Schormann W, Brown C.E, Meek A R, Njar V. C.O,. Hamilton R J, Reed M A, Andrews D W, Penn L Z. Sterol-like drugs potentiate statin-triggered prostate cancer cell death by inhibiting SREBP2 nuclear translocation Biomed Pharmacother 177, 2024 August doi:116934https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2024.116934
  3. Sadek M, Stover KR, Liu X, Reed MA, Weaver DF, Reid AY. IDO-1 inhibition improves outcome after fluid percussion injury in adult male rats. J Neurosci Res. 2024 May;102(5):e25338. doi: 10.1002/jnr.25338. PMID: 38706427
  4. Stover, K. R., Stafford, P. M., Damian, A. C., Pasangulapati, J. P., Goodwin-Tindall, J., López Vásquez, L. M., Lee, S., Yang, S. P., Reed, M. A., Barden, C. J., & Weaver, D. F. (2024). Development and Optimization of a Target Engagement Model of Brain IDO Inhibition for Alzheimer's Disease. Current Alzheimer research, 10.2174/0115672050283199240111111801. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.2174/0115672050283199240111111801
  5. Golzari-Sorkheh, M., Liyanage, I., Reed, M. A., & Weaver, D. F. (2023). Alzheimer's Disease and COVID-19 Pathogenic Overlap: Implications for Drug Repurposing. The Canadian journal of neurological sciences. Le journal canadien des sciences neurologiques, 1–34. Advance onlinepublication. https://doi.org/10.1017/cjn.2023.39
  6. Golzari-Sorkheh, Weaver DF, Reed MA. COVID-19 as a Risk Factor for Alzheimer’s Disease. J Alzheimers Dis. 2023, 91(1):1-23. PMID: 36314211.
  7. C. Frank Lee, C. E. Brown, A. J. Nielsen, C. Kim, I. Livne-Bar, P. J. Parsons, C. Boldron, F. Autelitano, D. F. Weaver, J. M. Sivak, M. A. Reed. A Stereocontrolled Total Synthesis of Lipoxin B4 and its Biological Activity as a Pro-Resolving Lipid Mediator of Neuroinflammation. Chem. Eur. J. 2022, 28, e202200360. PMID: 35491534.

Selected Patents

  1. New synthetic route/process of the natural product Lipoxin B4 (LXB4). US patent, US63/336,485. Carla Brown, Mark Andrew Reed, Chien-Hsun Frank Lee, Alexander James Nielsen, Jeremy M. Sivak. (2023)
  2. Synthetic Process for production of Lipoxin B4 and Analogues thereof.  WO2023/ 205908.  Reed, Mark A. Carla Brown, Chien-Hsun Frank Lee, Alexander James Nielsen, Jeremy M. Sivak
  3. Aromatic lipoxin B4 analogues and compositions and uses thereof. US patent, 63/574,493. Carla Brown, Mark Andrew Reed, Chien-Hsun Frank Lee, Ross Mancini, Jeremy M. Sivak (2024)
  4. Inhibitors of TRPM2 and their use thereof.  US Patent 63/685,132. Mark Reed, James Eubanks, Frank Lee, Donald Weaver, Mane Vaijinath, Mahmoud Sayah, Pavan Akula, Venkataganesh Veeranalla. (2024)
  5. Collagen inhibitors and methods thereof. US Patent 63/755,916, Ross Stanis Mancini, Leonardo Massignan, Vaijinath Mane, Mark Andrew Reed, Donald Fredric Weaver, Pierre-Antoine Claude Bissey, Kenneth W. Yip, and Fei-Fei Liu (2025)

Scientist, Krembil Research Institute (Krembil)

Assistant Professor, Pharmacology and Toxigcology, University of Toronto
Assistant Professor, Chemistry, University of Toronto