William T. Windsor, Ph.D.

Vice President of Discovery Biology

Dr. Windsor joined Innovimmune as Vice President of Discovery Biology in 2014. He has 30 years of experience in global small molecule and biologics drug discovery at Schering-Plough Research Institute and Merck. Dr. Windsor was the Director for Kinase Research in the Oncology Department (Schering Plough/Merck) until 2010 and most recently the Director for Biochemistry & Biophysics in the In Vitro Pharmacology department at Merck. He has developed a broad expertise that spans target identification, validation, in vitro pharmacology assay development for HTS and LID/LO programs and an expert in enzyme kinetics, ligand binding, biophysical characterization and protein purification/characterization for x-ray crystallography to support structure-based drug design.

Dr. Windsor is recognized as one of the first scientists at SPRI to develop an expertise in protein kinase biochemistry and due to his experience and leadership skills became the Chairman of a 100-member cross-functional Protein Kinase Working Group which developed state of the art methods to discover and develop clinical kinase inhibitor drugs. His therapeutic area focus includes Oncology, Immunology, Neurobiology and Infectious Diseases and has a successful track record in preclinical research for discovery targets including protein kinases, proteases, polymerases, GTPases, transferases, lactamases, phosphodiesterases and protein-protein scaffolds. His exemplary scientific rigor and distinguished leadership has led to the recommendation to advance numerous NME candidates into Clinical Development including: Sarasar (FPT inhibitor for Progeria and Oncology), HCV protease inhibitor Boceprevir, kinase inhibitors Dinaciclib (CDK2) and ERK inhibitor SCH 900353. Dr. Windsor and his teams were recognized for their outstanding research by being awarded two Presidential Awards for Discovery Research at Schering-Plough Research Institute. He is an inventor on 11 worldwide patent applications and an author of over 60 peer-reviewed journal articles (including Nature), book chapters and abstract presentations. He obtained his Ph.D. in Biophysical Chemistry at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Windsor is currently an Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at Stevens Institute of Technology where he has an active Biophysical Chemistry academic research lab and lectures on Drug Discovery as a Guest Faculty member at several academic centers.