Center for Drug Design                          2nd Research Symposium

Michael J. Sofia, PhD is currently Distinguished Professor at the Baruch Blumberg Institute and Adjunct Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is internationally recognized for his work on the discovery and development of drugs to treat and cure viral diseases including HCV and HBV. He was co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Arbutus Biopharma, Inc for over 12 years until his retirement in 2024. Over his 38 year career in drug discovery Dr. Sofia has held research and research management positions at Gilead Sciences, Pharmasset, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Transcell Technologies and Eli Lilly and Company. 

Regents' Professor and Distinguished University Professor at Georgia State University and Director of the Georgia State Center for Translational Antiviral Research, specializes in pathogenesis of respiratory RNA viruses and the development of next-generation antiviral therapeutics directed against respiratory viruses of pandemic concern. He has established the GSU high-throughput antiviral drug screening facility and identified novel drug candidates that are currently at different stages of development. Plemper is a Director of the Georgia State/Emory Antiviral Countermeasure Development Center (AC/DC), one of nine federally supported antiviral drug development (AViDD) centers in the nation that have been established to improve pandemic preparedness through next-generation antiviral therapeutics, and leads the SARS-CoV-2 antiviral drug discovery project of the AC/DC. Outside of the AC/DC, his laboratory receives NIH support to study the entry and replication machinery of influenza viruses, respiratory syncytial virus, and emerging and re-emerging paramyxo viruses such as human parainfluenza viruses, measles virus, and Nipah virus.