- Research Associate Professor, Center for Advanced Therapeutics, The Wistar Institute
Dr. Troy Messick is Research Associate Professor in the Genome Regulation and Cell Signaling Program of the Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center at The Wistar Institute. He trained as a structural biologist and biochemist and has built his career advancing small molecule drug programs from preclinical research through clinical trials.
Dr. Messick’s research applies fragment-based and structure-based drug discovery to challenging targets in viral and inflammatory disease. His program led the development of VK-2019, a first-in-class small molecule EBNA1 inhibitor targeting Epstein-Barr virus, which has advanced into first-in-human clinical trials in EBV-positive nasopharyngeal carcinoma — work directly relevant to multiple sclerosis and other EBV-associated autoimmune disease. He is an organizer of the Philadelphia Drug Discovery Forum and a recognized thought leader in regional drug development.
Through Wistar’s Center for Advanced Therapeutics, Dr. Messick partners closely with the Soldan laboratory, Penn Neurology, and Penn drug discovery collaborators to translate EBV-targeting small molecules toward autoimmune indications. He brings deep medicinal chemistry and structural biology expertise to the broader Penn Colton Consortium effort to identify and develop novel therapeutic approaches for rare and complex autoimmune disease.