Piyusha Pagare, PhD
Principal Investigator of the Molecular Therapeutics and Chemical Biology Laboratory; Assistant Professor
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Department: Pathology
Email: Piyusha.Pagare@vcuhealth.org
Piyusha P. Pagare, PhD, is the Principal Investigator of the Laboratory of Molecular Therapeutics and Chemical Biology and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. Her research focuses on drug discovery and chemical biology, with an emphasis on developing novel therapeutic strategies for substance use disorder, pain and cancer. Her work integrates computational and structure-based drug design, medicinal chemistry, cellular, molecular and invivo pharmacology to discover and characterize potential small molecule therapeutics.
Dr. Pagare received her PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Virginia Commonwealth University, where her doctoral research focused on the structure-based design and development of allosteric modulators of hemoglobin as potential therapeutics for sickle cell disease. She subsequently expanded her research into cancer chemical biology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and computational drug discovery at 1910 Genetics before returning to VCU, where her postdoctoral and faculty research focused extensively on opioid receptor pharmacology and therapeutic development.
Dr. Pagare’s research group investigates how small molecules can be used both as therapeutics and as chemical tools to understand and manipulate disease relevant biology. Current research spans the discovery and development of novel therapeutics for substance use disorders and overdose, the discovery of safer opioid and non-opioid pain therapeutics and the exploration of targeted protein degradation and other mechanism driven therapeutic strategies in cancer. Across these areas, the research group combines molecular design and computational modeling with chemical synthesis, chemical biology, and pharmacology to translate mechanistic insights into new therapeutic strategies.
Research Interests: Drug discovery, Chemical biology, Pharmacology, Substance use disorders, Pain, Cancer
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Education
2020 - 2024 Postdoctoral Fellow, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
2018 - 2019 Research Scholar, Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
2018 Ph.D., Pharmaceutical Sciences, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
2012 M.Sc., Organic Chemistry, Mumbai University, India
2009 B.Sc., Chemistry, Mumbai University, India
Awards
2026 International Narcotics Research Conference (INRC) Young Investigators Award nominee
Grants
Current Funded
NIH/NIDA 1DP1DA063098 Avenir Award Program for Chemistry and Pharmacology of Substance Use Disorders (PI: Pagare) 2025 - 2030, Novel Mu Opioid Receptor Modulators to Counteract Synthetic Opioids
Past Funded
PhRMA Foundation, Postdoctoral Fellowship in Drug Discovery (PI: Pagare) 2023 - 2024, Mu Opioid Receptor Modulators to Counteract Synthetic Opioids
Selected Publications
Peer Reviewed Papers
Upadhyay, N.; Neel, L. T.; Li, E.; Silte, A. A.; Lyu, R.; Selley, D. E.; Dewey, W. L.; Zhang, Y.; Pagare, P. P. Landscaping the nitazene scaffold to identify novel mu opioid receptor modulators: from molecular design, chemical synthesis to pharmacological profiling. J. Med. Chem. 2026, 69, 16658-16676.
Elshazly, A. M.; Hosseini, N.; Vangala, J.; Shen, S.; Neely, V.; Hu, X.; Pagare, P. P.; Harada, H.; Grant, S.; Radhakrishnan, S. K. Proteasome inhibition enhances lysosome-mediated targeted protein degradation. Cell Death Dis. 2026, 17, 614.
Neel, L. T.; Ma, H.; Reda, A.; Li, M.; Flammia, R.; Woodard, S.; Gillespie, J.; Selley, D. E.; Dewey, W. L.; Pagare, P. P.; Zhang, Y. Investigating the landscape of C6-azaindole sidechain on the epoxymorphinan skeleton via the nitrogen walk concept: a strategy to enhance drug-like properties. J. Med. Chem. 2026, 69, 2330- 2348.
Silte, A. A.; Li, E.; Kale, B. S.; Neel, L. T.; Upadhyay, N.; Flammia, R.; Lyu, R.; St. Onge, C. M.; Reda, A.; Woodard, S.; Gillespie, J. C.; Kim, D. C.; Selley, D. E.;
Pagare, P. P.; Zhang, Y. Design, synthesis and pharmacological evaluation of core ring expanded fentanyl analogs as potential counteracting agents against fentanyl induced respiratory depression. J. Med. Chem. 2025, 68, 22170- 22195.
Zaman, S. U.*; Pagare, P. P.*; Ma, H.; Hoyle, R. G.; Zhang, Y.; Li, J. Novel PROTAC probes targeting KDM3 degradation to eliminate colorectal cancer stem cells through inhibition of Wnt/β-catenin signaling. RSC Med. Chem. 2024, 15, 3746-3758.
Zaman, S. U.*; Pagare, P. P.*; Huang, B.; Rilee, G.; Ma, Z.; Zhang, Y.; Li, J. Novel PROTAC probes targeting FOSL1 degradation to eliminate head and neck squamous cell carcinoma stem cells. Bioorg. Chem. 2024, 151, 107613.
St. Onge, C. M.; Pagare, P. P.; Zheng, Y.; Arriaga, M.; Stevens, D. L.; Mendez, R. E.; Poklis, J. L.; Halquist, M. L.; Selley, D. E.; Dewey, W. L.; Banks, M. L.; Zhang, Y. Systematic structure-activity relationship study of nalfurafine analogues toward development of potentially non addictive pain management treatments. J. Med. Chem. 2024, 67, 9552-9574.
Book Chapters and Monographs
Pagare, P. P.; Upadhyay, N.; Zhang, Y. Advancing pain management: Dual-targeting strategies in opioid receptor modulation. In Pain Management: A Review and Directions for Future Research; Theofilou, P. Ed.; Nova Science Publishers, NY, 2026; pp. 79-126.
Patents
Martin K. Safo, Yan Zhang, Piyusha P. Pagare, Guoyan Xu, Mohini Ghatge, Jurgen Venitz, Osheiza Abdulmalik. Aromatic Aldehydes with sustained and enhanced in vitro and in vivo pharmacologic activity to treat sickle cell disease. WO2019182938A1
Martin K. Safo, Yan Zhang, Piyusha P. Pagare, Guoyan Xu, Mohini Ghatge, Jurgen Venitz, Osheiza Abdulmalik. Aromatic Aldehydes with sustained and enhanced in vitro and in vivo pharmacologic activity to treat sickle cell disease. US11401241B2
Complete List of Published Work in MyBibliography:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/piyusha.pagare.1/bibliography/public/
Print/Download Dr. Pagare Web CV (pdf)