Research News - Ivanov Lab - Emory Pharmacology and Chemical Biology

December 2025 New Publication in "Journal of Medical Chemistry"

Our new paper, “Non-Catalytic Inhibitors of the p38/MK2 Interface: Repurposing Approved Drugs to Target Neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s Disease,” is now online in J. Med. Chem! Many thanks to Dr. Haian Fu, Dr. Zhexing Wen, Dr. Yuhong Du, Dr. Tyler Beyett, Dr. Eric J. Miller, Dr. Ying Zhou, Dr. Kristos Negron Teron, Ms. Julia Gralla, and the co-first authors, Ms. Payton Fleming, Mr. Andrew Li, and Ms. Maylynn Hu, for making this exciting work possible!

November 2025 Neuroscience Annual Meeting

Julia Gralla (pictured below), an undergraduate student in Ivanov Lab, presented our work on “Repurposing FDA-Approved Drugs to Disrupt the p38/MK2 Complex and Suppress Neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s Disease, at the annual Neuroscience conference in San Diego, CA, Nov. 15-19, 2025.

(Also pictured below are Julia and Andrey Ivanov, PhD, far right image)

woman standing in front of poster presentation

man and woman standing in front of poster presentation on board

November 2025 Ivanov Lab Presented at the Winship Scientific Symposium

Integrating Artificial Intelligence and Big Data in Cancer Research

Julia Gralla: Repurposing FDA-Approved Drugs to Disrupt the p38/MK2 Complex and Suppress Cancer Inflammation.

man and woman standing at poster presentation board

Nayanika Imaan Owens: Computational Design of Inhibitory Peptides for the p38/MK2 complex to Suppress Cancer Inflammation

Elsa Bildtsen: Targeting the MKK3/MYC Protein–Protein Interaction as a Therapeutic Strategy in MYC-Driven Cancers

woman standing at presentation poster board

The Team with Drs. Haian Fu and Suresh Ramalingam.

Payton Fleming: MKK3-Induced MYC Activation Promotes TNBC Growth in Part Through the LDHA Glycolytic Pathway

group of people standing at poster presentation board

Andrey Ivanov: AI-Guided Discovery of p38/MK2 PPI Inhibitors to Target Tumor-Pomoting Inflammation

August 2025 Emory Center for New Medicines Therapeutic Advancement Award

group photo with four people at award ceremony — Pictured left to right: The CNM Co-Director, Dr. Dennis Liotta, the dean of the Emory School of Medicine and internal advisor for CNM, Dr. Sandra Wong, Dr. Andrey Ivanov, and the CNM Co-Director, Dr. Haian Fu

The Ivanov Lab is proud to receive the Emory Center for New Medicines Therapeutic Advancement Award for Developing PPI disruptors to overcome acquired resistance to EGFR therapy in lung cancer. We truly appreciate the recognition of our work and the invaluable support from our collaborators, Drs. Eric Miller and Shi-Yong Sun.

June 2025 Payton Fleming Won Best Session Presentation

Congratulations to Payton Fleming on winning the Best Session Presentation award at the 2^nd Annual NCI ITCR Trainee Symposium.

June 2025 Payton Fleming presented at Lung Cancer SPORE meeting

Payton Fleming, a rising junor undergraduate student, presented her work on targeting MKK3/MYC protein-protein interaction in lung cancer as an invited speaker and Travel Award recipient at the Annual Lung Cancer SPORE Meeting in Houston, TX.

May 2025 Andrew Li Graduated from Emory

Andrew Li, undergraduate student in the Ivanov lab, graduated with the highest honors, majoring in Biology.

Pictured left to right: Dr. Barbara Krauthamer, the Dean of Emory College of Arts and Sciences, Andrew Li, Dr. Andrey Ivanov

April 2025 Lab Presents at UGA Conference

Winship Event

Lab members Julia Gralla, Payton Fleming, Elsa Bildtsen, and Nayanika Imaan Owens, Andrew Li, Nicole Chen presented at the UGA-Winship Summit in Athens.

Payton Fleming

Elsa Bildtsen

Julia, Imaan, and Andrew co-presented a poster entitled: "Targeting cancer-driving inflammation through the p38-MK2-HSP27 pathway":

Andrew Li, Julia Gralla, and Nayanika Imaan Owens (undergraduate students)

Julia Gralla, Andrew Li, and Imaan Owens at their poster.

Julia Gralla

Nayanika Imaan Owens

Three people standing at poster presentation

Julia Gralla and Nayanika Imaan Owens

Two women standing in front of poster presentation

Nicol Chen, a research specialist in Ivanov lab, is presenting her poster entitled “Uncovering Actionable Vulnerabilities in Mutant-Directed Protein-Protein Interactions in Cancer with AVERON Notebook”:

woman standing in front of her poster presentation

two women standing in front of poster presentation board

January 2025 New Publication in "Nature Reviews Cancer"

Our review paper “Decoding the functional impact of the cancer genome through protein–protein interactions” with Drs. Haian Fu and Xiulei Mo is online now in Nature Reviews Cancer!

October 2024 5th Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society

Andrew Li gave a talk on targeting p38/MK2 protein-protein interaction to inform therapeutic discovery in Alzheimer’s disease at The 75th Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society (SERMACS) in Atlanta, GA, October 23-24.