Neurocrine Biosciences is a neuroscience-focused, biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering, developing and delivering life-changing treatments for people with serious, challenging and under-addressed neurological, endocrine and psychiatric disorders. The company's diverse portfolio includes FDA-approved treatments for tardive dyskinesia, Parkinson's disease, endometriosis*, uterine fibroids* and clinical programs in multiple therapeutic areas. For nearly three decades, Neurocrine Biosciences has specialized in targeting and interrupting disease-causing mechanisms involving the interconnected pathways of the nervous and endocrine systems.

Attendees will have the opportunity to learn more about the company and current employment opportunities, while participating in the live Q & A. Panel members also plan to hold individual interview sessions. Please upload your CV and research summary in the registration form below in order to be considered for an interview.

Food will be provided at this event!

Register here.

Speakers:

Chemistry Team

Manwika Charaschanya, Ph.D.
Manwika was born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand. In 2008, she relocated to the United States for college, and in 2012, graduated with a B.A. in Chemistry from Grinnell College, IA. Following Iowa, she moved a state over to Kansas, and in 2018, graduated with a doctoral degree in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Kansas under the mentorship of Professor Jeffrey Aubé. Her dissertation titled “Advances in heterocyclic synthesis through ring expansions and flow chemistry” included synthetic methodology development, generation of small molecule screening libraries via Schmidt ring expansion chemistry, and application of a high-temperature and high-pressure flow reactor for heterocyclic synthesis via a collaboration with AbbVie Inc. She spent two years as a postdoctoral research associate in Professor Peter Wipf’s laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh, PA. There she worked on developing novel anti-ferroptotic agents through the synthesis of peptidomimetic TEMPO conjugates. In 2020, Manwika moved to San Diego and joined Neurocrine Biosciences as a Scientist in Medicinal Chemistry.

Nicole Harriott, PhD
Nicole was born and raised just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. She graduated with Honors in both Chemistry and Biology from Ashland University in 1999. She went on to study organic and peptidomimetic synthetic chemistry as a NIH predoctoral fellow under Professor Murray Goodman at UCSD earning her PhD in 2004. Here she designed and synthesized unnatural amino acids and incorporated them into novel peptidomimetic opioids. She then went on to expand her synthetic skills as an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Professor Viresh Rawal at the University of Chicago. In Professor Rawal’s lab, she worked towards the total synthesis of Haouamine A. In 2006, Nicole returned to San Diego as a Research Scientist at Neurocrine Biosciences. It’s here that Nicole expanded her Medicinal Chemistry skills resulting in the discovery of Ingrezza which is approved in the US and Japan for the treatment of Tardive Dyskinesia. Nicole is now an Executive Director of Chemistry at Neurocrine heading up the chemistry department.

Nicholas Pagano, Ph.D.

Nick born and raised just outside Philadelphia and graduated with a BSc in chemistry in 2004 from Albright College in Reading, PA. In 2009, he received a doctoral degree in organic chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania under the supervision of Professor Eric Meggers. Nick’s graduate work focused on the design and synthesis of organometallic compounds as protein kinase inhibitors. He then spent two years as a post-doctoral researcher with Professor Nicholas Cosford at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in La Jolla, CA investigating multistep microfluidic synthesis. Following brief employment at Optimer Pharmaceuticals here in San Diego, Nick joined Neurocrine Biosciences in 2012 as a Research Scientist in medicinal chemistry and currently serves as a Director in the department.

Biology Team

 

Lourdes (Lulu) Fernandez de Cossio, Ph.D.

Lulu graduated as a licensed psychologist from the University of Havana, Cuba, concomitantly working with children at the Cuban Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery, as a neuropsychologist trainee. This latter experience motivated a career change to understanding the brain’s biology at the intersect with the endocrine and immune systems. Lulu left Cuba to pursue a Master’s in Neuroscience in Europe- Neurasmus and a doctoral degree at McGill University, Canada to better understand the role of microglia in how infections during pregnancy could lead to neurodevelopmental disorders. She went on to do a two-year postdoctoral training for in vivo optogenetics and video-EEGs, to study the hyper-direct pathway and different models of epilepsy respectively at the Hnasko and the Rho/ Shtrahman labs at UC San Diego. In September 2021, Lulu joined Neurocrine Biosciences as a Scientist in Translational and in vivo Pharmacology.

Natali Minassian, Ph.D.

Natali was born and partly raised in Austin, Texas before moving to Cupertino, California in 1992. She graduated Magna Cum Laude in Biology from Santa Clara University in 2002. During her senior year in
college, Natali started working in the in vitro assay development team at Xenoport, Inc—a small biotech company focused on utilizing ion channels and transporters as means to optimize drug uptake through
the GI tract or blood brain barrier. After 2 years, she went on to study mutations in voltage-gated potassium channels linked to spinocerebellar ataxia as a graduate student in Diane Papazian’s lab. She earned her Ph.D. in Biophysics from the Molecular, Cellular & Integrative Physiology program at UCLA in 2010. She stayed at UCLA as a postdoctoral fellow in Igor Spigelman’s lab where she studied the mechanisms and relief of alcohol abuse. She then conducted a 2 nd postdoctoral fellowship in the ion channel group within the neuroscience team at Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. For 3 years, she worked on drug discovery CNS programs, ranging from disorders of mood and cognition to pain. During her time at JnJ, she collaborated with the peptide chemistry group to characterize the structure-function of peptide toxins against voltage-gated sodium channels. Natali then joined the Neuroscience Research Unit at Pfizer. As a senior scientist, she was the in vitro lead on multiple drug discovery projects with a mechanistic focus on ion channels in the CNS space, analyzing how compounds affect both single cell & networking activity. Following 2 years at Pfizer, Natali joined Ardelyx, Inc as senior scientist where she lead the in vitro pharmacology team. There she returned to drug discovery in the GI & cardiorenal space with a mechanistic focus on assay development for transporters, receptors, enzymes and gut permeability. After 2 years, she then joined the in vitro pharmacology team at Neurocrine Biosciences and is now a Senior Principal Scientist in the group, leading projects and developing assays for ion channels, GPCRs and transporters in the CNS space.