Dr. Nathanael Gray is a distinguished chemical biologist renowned for his pioneering contributions to cancer drug discovery and development. He currently serves as the Krishnan-Shah Family Professor of Chemical and Systems Biology at Stanford University where he holds multiple leadership positions including Co-Director of Cancer Drug Discovery and Co-Leader of the Cancer Therapeutics Research Program. After receiving his PhD in organic chemistry from the University of California Berkeley in 1999 he established himself as a rising leader during his tenure at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation where he directed biological chemistry and supervised over fifty researchers. His transition to Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute further solidified his reputation before his highly regarded move to Stanford University where his laboratory continues to drive innovation in therapeutic development.
Dr. Gray's groundbreaking research has fundamentally transformed the field of kinase inhibitor design with his work on allosteric inhibitors of BCR-ABL leading directly to the clinical development of ABL001. His laboratory achieved a landmark accomplishment with the discovery of the first selective inhibitors of Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase which catalyzed the development of FDA-approved therapeutics like ceritinib for non-small cell lung cancer. Additionally his team's elucidation of sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor-1 as the pharmacologically relevant target of fingolimod led to the development of siponimod now used clinically for multiple sclerosis treatment. The impact of his work extends to numerous other targets including EGFR mTor and CDK7 with his chemical probes widely adopted across both academic and pharmaceutical research communities.
Beyond his research achievements Dr. Gray has been instrumental in establishing cutting-edge platforms for drug discovery through his leadership of the Innovative Medicines Accelerator's Small Molecule Drug Discovery program at Stanford. His laboratory continues to pioneer novel approaches for targeting challenging disease mechanisms including developing protein degraders and covalent inhibitors that target diverse amino acid residues. Through his co-founding roles in multiple biotechnology companies including C4 Therapeutics Gatekeeper and Syros he has successfully translated basic discoveries into therapeutic pipelines addressing unmet medical needs. His current research focuses on developing first-in-class chemical probes to gain new biological insights into disease processes while simultaneously advancing pharmacological validation of novel clinical targets ensuring his laboratory remains at the forefront of therapeutic innovation.
