Andrew Anzalone

I am an MD/PhD student in the Cornish laboratory working in the fields of chemical biology and synthetic biology. My research interests include: engineering the cell’s protein synthetic machinery; in vitro and in vivo directed evolution; and the development of new chemical tools and reagents for biological imaging. My main focus has been in the development of engineered RNA devices that regulate protein expression in eukaryotes. Using a combination of in vitro directed evolution, rational design, and in vivo directed evolution techniques, I have developed a platform for assembling RNA switches that modify protein translation outputs in response to small molecule inputs. I am interested in implementing these gene expression control mechanisms for cellular engineering applications that may find utility in medical diagnostics or cell-based therapies.

Before enrolling in the MD/PhD program at Columbia, I received my ScB in chemistry from Brown University. My prior research experiences include the development of tyrosine kinase inhibitors for drug discovery (Gregory Ott, Cephalon Pharmaceuticals), the development of synthetic methodology using transition-metal catalysis (William Trenkle, Brown University), and the development of stapled peptide biological reagents (Gregory Verdine, Harvard University). 

See also: Graduate Students Invent Technique for Reprogramming Translation.


Education History

ScB, Brown University
Chemistry


Publications

Anzalone AV, Chen Z, Cornish VW. Synthesis of photoactivatable azido-acyl caged oxazine fluorophores for live-cell imaging. Chem Commun (Camb). 2016 Jul 5.

Anzalone AV, Lin AJ, Zairis S, Rabadan R, Cornish VW. Reprogramming eukaryotic translation with ligand-responsive synthetic RNA switches. Nat Methods. 2016 May;13(5):453-458. 

Anzalone AV, Wang TY, Chen Z, Cornish VW. A common diaryl ether intermediate for the gram-scale synthesis of oxazine and xanthenefluorophores. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2013 Jan 7;52(2):650-4.

Ott GR, Tripathy R, Cheng M, McHugh R, Anzalone AV, Underiner TL, Curry MA, Quail MR, Lu L, Wan W, Angeles TS, Albom MS, Aimone LD, Ator MA, Ruggeri BA, Dorsey BD. Discovery of a potent inhibitor of anaplastic lymphoma kinase with in vivo antitumor activity. ACS Med Chem Lett. 2010 Sep 1;1(9):493-8.

Mesaros EF, Burke JP, Parrish JD, Dugan BJ, Anzalone AV, Angeles TS, Albom MS, Aimone LD, Quail MR, Wan W, Lu L, Huang Z, Ator MA, Ruggeri BA, Cheng M, Ott GR, Dorsey BD. Novel 2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-benzo[d]azepine derivatives of 2,4-diaminopyrimidine, selective and orally bioavailable ALK inhibitors with antitumor efficacy in ALCL mouse models. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2011 Jan 1;21(1):463-6.