Phone: 501-526.0893
Office: BioMed II 166-2
Email: BAFrett@uams.edu
Education & Training
BA in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Wooster
PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Arizona
Postdoc in Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutics, University of Arizona
Teaching Responsibilities
PSCI 61163 – Practice in Drug Discovery and Development for Graduate Students
PhSc 7203-001 – Medicinal and Natural Product Chemistry
PSCI 71205-001 – Principles of Drug Actions
Memberships
American Chemical Society (ACS)
American Thyroid Association (ATA)
American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP)
Research & Scholarly Interests
Dr. Brendan Frett received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences with an emphasis in Drug Discovery and Development from the University of Arizona in 2014. He received postdoctoral training in Medicinal Chemistry as well as Pharmaceutics at the University of Arizona. Dr. Frett has successfully transferred academic-based discoveries to pharmaceutical companies for clinical development. He is interested in pursuing translational research projects, where research completed in his laboratory can directly help patients.
Dr. Frett’s research is focused on small molecule drug design and developing enabling chemical methodologies to expedite the drug discovery process. In particular, he is interested in identifying single-agent therapies capable of controlling multiple, dysregulated pathways in cancer.
Students and postdoctoral researchers interested in working in Dr. Frett’s laboratory are encouraged to contact Dr. Frett.
Publications
Lei, J.; Meng, J.P.; Tang, DY; Frett. B.*; Chem, Z.Z.; Xu, Z. Recent Advances in the Development of Polycyclic Skeletons via Ugi Reaction Cascades, Molecular Diversity (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11030-017-9811-2.
Bharate, J.B; McConnell, N.; Naresh, G.; Zhang, L.; Lakkaniga, N.R.; Ding, L.; Shah, N.P.; Frett, B.*; Li, H.Y. Rational Design, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation or Pyrimidine-4,6-diamine derivative as Type-II inhibitors of FLT3 Selective Against c-KIT, Sci. Rep (2018) 8, 3722.
McConnell, N; Xu, Z; Kumarasamy, V; Sun, D; Frett, B.*; Li, H. Synthesis of Constrained Heterocycles Employing Two Post-Ugi Cyclization Methods for Rapid Library Generation with In Cellulo Activity, ChemistrySelect (2017), 2, 11821-11825.
Wang, J.; Cheng, P.; Pavliukov, M.S.; Zhang, Zhuo; Kim, S.-H.; Minata, M.; Mohyeldin, A.; Xie, W.; Chen, D.; Goidts, V.; Frett, B.*; Hu, W.; Li, H.; Shin, Y.J.; Lee, Y.; Nam, D.H.; Wang, M.D.; Nakano, I. Targeting NEK2 attenuates glioblastoma growth and radio-resistance viade-stabilizing EZH2, J. Clin. Invest. (2017) 127, 3075-3089.
Xi J.; Fang, Y.; Frett, B.*; Zhu, M.-L.; Zhu, T.; Kong, Y.-N.; Guan, F.-J.; Zhao, Y.; Zhang, X.-W.; Li, H.; Ma, M.; Hu, W., Structure-based design and synthesis of imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine derivatives as novel and potent Nek2 inhibitors with in vitro and in vivo antitumor activities, Eur. J. Med. Chem. (2017) 126, 1083-1106, PMID: 28039836.
Fang, Y; Kong, Y.; Xi, J.; Zhu, M.; Zhu, T.; Jiang, T.; Frett, B.*; Hu, W.; Li, H.; Ma, M.; Zhang, X. Preclinical activity of MBM-5 in gastrointestinal cancer by inhibiting NEK2 kinase activity, Oncotarget, (2016) 6, 79327-79341, PMCID: PMC5346717.
Frett, B.*; Carlomagno, F.; Moccia, L; Brescia, A.; Federico, G.; De Falco, V.; Admire, B.; Chen, Z.; Qi, W.; Santoro, M.; Li, H. Fragment-based discovery of a dual pan-RET/VEGFR2 kinase inhibitor optimized for single-agent polypharmacology. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl, (2015) 54, 8717-8721, PMCID: PMC4535927.
Frett, B.*; McConnell, N.; Smith, C.; Shah, N.P.; Li, H. Computer Aided Drug Discovery of Highly Ligand Efficient, Low Molecular Weight Imidazopyridine Analogues as FLT3 Inhibitors. Eur J Med Chem (2015), 94, 123-131. PMCID: PMID25765758.
Wang, Y.; Frett, B.*; McConnell, N.; Li, H. Metal-free, efficient hydrazination of imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine with diethyl azodicarboxylate in neutral media, Org Biomol Chem (2015) 13, 2958–2964. PMCID: PMC4675458
Frett, B.*; Moccia, M.; Carlomagno, F.; Massimo, S.; Li, H. Identification of two novel RET kinase inhibitors through MCR-based drug discovery: design, synthesis and evaluation. Eur J Med Chem (2014) 86, 714-723, PMCID: PMC4666024.
Wang, Y.; Frett, B.*; Li, H. Efficient Access to 2,3-Diarylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridines via a One-pot, Ligand-free, Palladium-Catalyzed Three-Component Reaction under Microwave Irradiation. Org Lett (2014), 16, 3016–3019. PMCID: PMC4059256.
Frett, B.*; Brown, RV; Ma, M; Hu, W.; Han, H.; Li, H. Therapeutic Melting Pot of Never in Mitosis Gene Related Kinase 2 Nek2: A Perspective on Nek2 as an Oncology Target and Recent Advancements in Nek2 Small Molecule Inhibition. J. Med Chem. (2014) 57, 5835-5844, PMCID: PMC4666018.
Frett, B.*; McConnell, N.; Wang, Y.; Xu, Z.; Ambrose, A.; Li, H. Identification of pyrazine-based TrkA inhibitors: design, synthesis, evaluation, and computational modeling studies. MedChemComm, (2014) 5, 1507-1514, PMCID: PMC4734651.
Li, F.; Frett, B.*; Li, H. Selective reduction of halogenated nitroarenes with hydrazine hydrate in the presence of Pd/C. SynLett (2014), 25, 1403–1408, PMCID: PMC4734645.
Wang, Y.; Saha, B.; Li, F.; Frett, B.*; Li, H. An expeditious approach to access 2-arylimidazo [1,2-a]pyridin-3-ol from 2-amino pyridine through a novel Petasis based cascade reaction. Tetrahedron Letters (2014), 55, 1281–1284.