Maria Fawaz
Associate Principal Scientist Merck & Co
Dr. Maria Fawaz is an Associate Principal Scientist in Pharmacokinetics, Dynamics, Metabolism & Bioanalytics at Merck Research Laboratories, West Point, PA. As a DMPK principal investigator, Maria supports various peptide modalities, guiding design strategies in the early discovery space, lead optimization, and also supports clinical-stage programs. Maria has extensive experience in cyclic peptide metabolite identification, where she co-discovered novel analytical strategies of unambiguously identifying regions in the cyclic peptide sequence susceptible to amide hydrolysis by proteases. At Merck, Maria is also working with external collaborators and various funding organizations. Maria holds a PhD degree in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Michigan. Her doctoral research was focused on the design and synthesis of high-density lipoproteins (sHDL) composed of ApoA-I mimetic peptides and phospholipids for the treatment of Niemann-Pick diseases and atherosclerosis. Maria is passionate about mentoring junior scientists and she is actively engaged in student and postdoc career outreach at various universities.
Seminars
- Introducing of the Pan-Cov peptide inhibitor program and showcasing the peptide modality strategy
- Establishing in vitro and ex vivo efficacy assays for peptide optimization
- Discussing the challenges associated with peptide PK and biodistribution
NEW DATA
- How to effectively design patient-centric peptide delivery formulations (oral vs injectable)?
- How to ensure novel peptide formulations can be scalable and cost efficient during the manufacturing process?
- Where will delivery innovations take the peptide field in the next 5 years?
