Barry O'Keefe's Biography

Barry O'Keefe, Group Leader, National Institutes of Health

Dr. O’Keefe joined the NCI’s Laboratory of Drug Discovery Research and Development to study novel proteins from natural products extracts. He was promoted to Associate Group Leader for Protein Chemistry in 1996 and Group Leader for Protein Chemistry in 2001 and put together a research program based on novel proteins and their specific interactions with molecular targets involved in cancer and AIDS. In 2006 he was promoted to Group Leader for Protein Chemistry and Molecular Biology in the NCI’s Molecular Development Program and took on a role in guiding another section of our laboratory. In 2008, he was appointed the Deputy Chief of the Molecular Targets Laboratory with expanded responsibilities for the broader focus of the entire laboratory. Dr. O’Keefe’s efforts in the isolation and characterization of bioactive proteins from natural product extracts have been recognized by the NCI, NIH and the American Society of Pharmacognosy and featured in Science and PNAS. He has published over 50 research papers and is an inventor on numerous patents on antiviral proteins and their use. He has been awarded the NIH Technology Transfer Award seven times for his discoveries.

Dr. O’Keefe currently leads a research group in the Molecular Targets Laboratory at the Center for Cancer Research, NCI, NIH that specializes in the isolation and identification of novel bioactive proteins, the identification of specific molecular targets for cancer and viral infections, and the development of novel assay systems for the evaluation and screening of natural products against biochemical targets of interest including kinases, transcription factors, proteases, ubiquitin ligases, and phosphodiesterases. He am a member of several decision-making committees and faculties at the NIH including the NCI Chemistry and Structural Biology Faculty, the Center for Excellence for AIDS and Cancer Virology, the Steering Committee of the NCI Molecular Targets Faculty, the NCI Experimental Therapeutics Discovery Committee, the Trans-NIH and U.S. Government Microbicide Working Groups and the U.S. Intramural-to-Russia Steering Committee for anti-HIV microbicides. He has mentored numerous students, post-doctoral researchers and visiting scientists during his time at the NCI and has been nominated for the NCI Outstanding Mentor Award three times.