Kenneth Westover, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology and Biochemistry
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Ken Westover is a practicing thoracic radiation oncologist with expertise in structural biology, biochemistry, cancer biology and structure-based drug development. His team, together with collaborators were among the first to investigate direct covalent targeting of KRAS. They developed the first covalent GTP-competitive inhibitors and switch 2 pocket inhibitors against KRAS G12C. These served as a pattern for the development of, now approved, KRAS G12C inhibitors sotorasib and adagrasib. Additional work established structrual models for RAS dimerization. Finally, multiple efforts are directed at understanding differences in RAS cancer allele-specific mechanisms of activation. Additional inhibitor discovery work has led to the discovery of inhibitors against mTOR, SRC, DCLK1, SRMS, CDK7, TAK1, JNK and HER3. Clinically Dr. Westover studies radiation treatments utilizing hypofractionated radiation such as stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT).
Financial relationships
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Attribution:SelfType of financial relationship:Professional ServicesIneligible company:Vibliome TherapeuticsTopic:Early stage drug discoveryDate added:Date updated:05/08/2024
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Attribution:SelfType of financial relationship:Independent contractorIneligible company:AmgenTopic:KRAS G12C inhibitorsDate added:Date updated:05/08/2024
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Attribution:SelfType of financial relationship:Grant Or ContractIneligible company:Revolution MedicinesTopic:KRAS inhibitorsDate added:01/04/2022Date updated:05/08/2024
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