scientific advisory board
Yury Popov, MD, PhD

Director of Liver Research, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School

Yury V. Popov received an M.D. (1997) from Grodno State Medical School, Belarus and PhD in Biochemistry (2004) from Institute of Biochemistry of National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. He became the first scientist from Eastern Europe to win the prestigious Sheila Sherlock EASL fellowship award to pursue postdoctoral training in translational liver fibrosis research at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany. In 2005, Dr. Popov relocated to USA to join faculty at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Popov is currently directing a Liver Fibrosis Research Lab and Core and holding an appointment of Assistant Professor of Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. He is also an Associate Editor of American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, and ad hoc reviewer for over 30 scientific journals. Dr. Yury Popov’s laboratory’s major research focus is on liver fibrosis/cirrhosis and its life-threatening sequelae. Specifically, his team investigates the basic mechanisms of progression and regression of liver scarring, with the goal of the development of non-invasive diagnostic tools to measure these processes in the clinic, and novel therapies to prevent and reverse cirrhosis and its lifethreatening complications such as primary liver cancers.

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Integrin Partnership: Janssen

Morphic entered a research partnership with Janssen in 2019 to discover inhibitors of undisclosed integrin targets. In 2021, this partnership was expanded to include an antibody activator of an integrin target, extending the application of Morphic’s knowledge of integrin biology into modalities beyond small molecules. The antibody activator program is the focus of our collaboration with Janssen today.

Undisclosed Targets

Morphic is leveraging the MInT Platform to discover therapeutically relevant small molecule inhibitors of targets across the integrin family to treat autoimmune diseases, cancer and fibrotic diseases.

Undisclosed Target for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Morphic is deploying the MInT Platform to create small molecule inhibitors of an undisclosed integrin target for evaluation as a potential treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). PAH is a devastating, usually fatal disease characterized by elevated mean pressures in the pulmonary artery and associated with lung and heart dysfunction. Morphic’s PAH program is in preclinical development.

αvβ8

Morphic is developing small molecule inhibitors of the integrin αvβ8 through a combination immuno-oncology approach for the treatment of solid tumors as well as potential additional indications. αvβ8 is known to activate selective isoforms of TGF-β and Morphic has demonstrated that αvβ8 inhibition can potentiate immune checkpoint blockade and potentially drive responses in checkpoint refractory tumors. Morphic’s αvβ8 inhibitors are in preclinical development.

Next Gen α4β7 Inhibitors

Morphic is developing a family of next generation α4β7 small molecule inhibitors with enhanced attributes using the MInT Platform. These candidates have distinct chemical properties from our first-generation inhibitors with differentiated selectivity, potency, and pharmacokinetic profiles. Morphic’s next generation α4β7 inhibitors are currently in preclinical development.