Rate My Professor Patrick Griffin

Patrick R. Griffin, Ph.D., serves as Scientific Director of UF Scripps Biomedical Research and Professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine at The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology, University of Florida. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Virginia in 1989 under Professor Donald F. Hunt, focusing on biological mass spectrometry methodology development, and his B.S. in Chemistry from Syracuse University in 1985. His postdoctoral training was at the California Institute of Technology under Professor Leroy Hood from 1990 to 1991, applying mass spectrometry to systems biology, followed by a role as Associate Scientist at Genentech from 1989 to 1990.

Griffin's career trajectory includes leadership positions at Merck Research Laboratories from 1991 to 2002, rising to Senior Director of Basic Chemistry and Molecular Profiling Proteomics, where he oversaw more than 35 safety assessment programs and played key roles in developing MK-0431 (Januvia), a DPP4 inhibitor approved for type 2 diabetes management, and DMP-777, an elastase inhibitor that advanced to phase IIb trials for cystic fibrosis. From 2002 to 2004, he served as Chief Scientific Officer at ExSAR Corporation, advancing hydrogen/deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS) applications for protein misfolding disorders. At The Scripps Research Institute Florida, he joined as Professor of Biochemistry in 2004, then became Professor and founding Chair of the Department of Molecular Therapeutics from 2007 to 2017. His research specializes in protein structure and function, emphasizing modulation of nuclear receptors including PPARs, RORs, REV-ERBs, LRH-1, VDR, ER, GR, and PR through biophysical methods such as HDX-MS and XL-MS to probe ligand interactions, structural plasticity, and allosteric mechanisms for drug discovery targeting cancer, autoimmune diseases, obesity, and diabetes. With over 240 peer-reviewed publications and an h-index of 83, representative works include "Discovery of Selective Inhibitors for In Vitro and In Vivo Interrogation of Skeletal Myosin II" (ACS Chemical Biology, 2021), "Conformational Changes of RORγ During Response Element Recognition and Coregulator Engagement" (Journal of Molecular Biology, 2021), "Dual-mechanism Estrogen Receptor Inhibitors" (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021), and "Structure of an AMPK Complex in an Inactive, ATP-bound State" (Science, 2021). He has led NIH-funded initiatives such as the U54 MLPCN Roadmap grant and co-founded Ember Therapeutics and Myosin Therapeutics.