Skip to main content
Dr. Glenn Prestwich Medicinal Chemistry

Glenn Prestwich, Ph.D.

Academic Information

Departments College of Pharmacy , Presidential Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, Emeritus - Medicinal Chemistry - Medicinal Chemistry , Research Professor, Emeritus - Biochemistry - Biochemistry , Adjunct Professor, Emeritus - Otolaryngology - Otolaryngology: Head & Neck Surgery , Adjunct Professor, Emeritus, Biomedical Engineering - College of Pharmacy. - College of Pharmacy

Academic Office Information

glenn.prestwich@pharm.utah.edu

801-585-7396

Research Interests

  • New reagents for phosphoinositide and lysophospholipid signaling in cell biology and cancer treatment
  • Biomaterials for cell therapy, wound repair, cartilage repair, tissue engineering, scar-free healing, and xenograft models
  • Sulfated glycosaminoglycan analogues as inflammation modulators for clinical use

Dr. Glenn D. Prestwich is Presidential Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, Emeritus and Founding Special Presidential Assistant for Faculty Entrepreneurism, and directed two Utah Centers of Excellence: the Center for Cell Signaling (1997 - 2002) and the Center for Therapeutic Biomaterials (2004 - 2008). His passion for translational research and scholarship led to his appointment as director of the Entrepreneurial Faculty Scholars program at the U of Utah (2008 - current). He was elected as a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (2014 - ) a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2005 - ), and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2018 - ).

He has launched over eleven small life science companies in the last 25 years: Clear Solutions Biotech (1994 - 2001); Echelon Biosciences, Inc. (CSO, 1997 - 2003); Sentrx Surgical, Inc. (CSO, 2003 - 2004); Carbylan BioSurgery, Inc. (Palo Alto, CA)(2004 - 2012); Sentrx Animal Care, Inc. (Salt Lake City)(2005 - 2023); Glycosan BioSystems, Inc. (Salt Lake City) (CSO, 2005 - 2011); GlycoMira Therapeutics, Inc. (CSO, Salt Lake City) (2008 - current); Metallosensors, Inc. (CEO, 2011 - 2014): Deuteria Agrochemicals LLC (2013 - 2018); Deuteria Biomaterials LLC (2013 - 2020); MxDx Biosystems (2020 - current), and Maana Discoveries (2020 - current). His consulting company Clear Solutions Biomedical provides service to over a dozen small biotechnology companies, to intellectual property attorneys, and to HTL Biotechnology (Javené, France).

He received the Utah Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology for 2006, was awarded the 1998 Paul Dawson Biotechnology Award and the 2008 Volwiler Research Award of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. In 2010, he received the University of Utah Distinguished Scholarly and Creative Research Award, as well as the 2010 Rooster Prize of the International Society for Hyaluronan Science for outstanding contributions to hyaluronan-derived products. During his 44 years as a faculty member, he has published over 650 technical papers, patents, and book chapters, and has trained over 125 postgraduate scientists. In 2011, he was invited to serve as a member of the editorial advisory board for Science Translational Medicine. His university research programs included (i) new reagents for lipid signaling in cell biology and cancer treatment, (ii) biomaterials for wound repair, cartilage repair, tissue engineering, scar-free healing, and toxicology and xenograft models, and (iii) sulfated glycosaminoglycan analogues as inflammation modulators for clinical use.

 

RESEARCH INTERESTS

colored vials prestwich lab

Research Projects in the Prestwich Research Group

Dr. Prestwich has closed his laboratories and directs research only through his past and current startup companies in the areas of clinically-targeted hyaluronic acid derivatives in 3-D cell culture, bioprinting, cell therapy, xenograft models, and anti-inflammatory agents.

 

RELATED LINKS

FAR Webpage

College of Pharmacy

Education History

Postdoctoral Fellowship Cornell University
Postdoctoral Fellow
Stanford University
PhD
Undergraduate California Institute of Technology
BS

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. N. V. Rao, B. Argyle, X. Xu, P. R. Reynolds, J. M. Walenga, M. Prechel, G. D. Prestwich, R. B. MacArthur, B.  B. Walters, J. R. Hoidal, and T. P. Kennedy, “Low Anticoagulant Heparin Targets Multiple Sites of Inflammation, Suppresses Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia and Inhibits Interaction of RAGE with its Ligands,” Am. J. Physiol. Cell Physiol., 299, C97-110. (2010) PMID 20375277

  2. J. Zhang, X. Xu, N. V. Rao, B. Argyle, L. McCoard, W. J. Rusho, T. P. Kennedy, G. D. Prestwich, and G. Krueger, “Novel Sulfated Polysaccharides Disrupt RAGE Ligation and Inhibit Cutaneous Inflammation in a Mouse Model of Rosacea”, PLOS One 6 (2), e16658 (2011)

  3. S. Oottamasathien W. Jia, L. McCoard, S. Slack, J. Zhang, A. Skardal, A., T. P. Kennedy, R. Dull, G. D. Prestwich, “A Murine Model for Inflammatory Bladder Disease: Cathelicidin Peptide-Induced Bladder Inflammation and Treatment with Sulfated Polysaccharides,” J. Urol., 186, 1684-1692 (2011)

    More Selected Publications