Brief biography and scientific interests
Vadim Makarov received his Candidate of Chemical Sciences degree in Organic Chemistry in 1992 at the Center for Drug Chemistry, studying reactions of 5-nitropyrimidines with nucleophilic agents and the biological activity of the resulting compounds.
He then joined Professor Walter Werner's research group at the Hans Knöll Institute in Jena, Germany, as a postdoctoral researcher, working on isolation and purification of natural antibiotics such as nourseothricin and actinomycin C produced by Streptomyces bacteria. Another direction of his research involved synthesis and antimicrobial activity studies of organic thiocyanates.
From 1994 to 2008, V. Makarov worked at several leading Russian research centers, including the Center for Drug Chemistry, NIOPIK, and the State Scientific Center for Antibiotics, as a senior researcher in small-molecule drug discovery and development projects.
In 2003, he defended his doctoral dissertation in Pharmaceutical Chemistry at I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University. The work, supervised by Professor Vladimir Granik, focused on rational design and synthesis of new 4-nitropyrazole and 5-nitropyrimidine derivatives with antitubercular and antifungal activity.
In 2009, at the invitation of former director Vladimir Popov, now scientific director of the Research Center of Biotechnology RAS, Vadim Makarov headed the Laboratory of Biomedicinal Chemistry at the A.N. Bach Institute of Biochemistry, now part of the Research Center of Biotechnology RAS.
Dr. V. Makarov is the author of more than 10 granted patents. In 2010 he received a German state award for scientific achievements in antitubercular drug discovery, and in 2020 he was awarded a medal of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation for his contribution to science and technology policy.
He developed a simple and rapid method for producing the third-generation antiarrhythmic drug niferidil, marketed as Refralon. Vadim Makarov is best known as the creator of the antitubercular molecules BTZ043 and PBTZ169, also known by the INN macozinone, potent inhibitors of the mycobacterial enzyme DprE1. Macozinone is in phase II clinical trials.
Current research in V. Makarov's laboratory focuses on discovery and development of new treatment strategies for bacterial and viral infections, including tuberculosis, HIV, cytomegalovirus, herpesvirus, influenza virus, and rhinovirus. His scientific interests also include discovery and development of small molecules for neurodegenerative diseases.