Prior to joining the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) in 2015, Mr. Gardner spent 15 years working in the field of Bioanalytical Chemistry and Drug Metabolism; first with Merck Research Labs (2000-2005) followed by his position with Ambit Biosciences (2005-2015). Within these organizations he served on many cross-disciplinary project teams and provided critical support to both lead op and early clinical programs. His early work on Quizartinib (AC220) led to its rapid promotion as a lead candidate for the potential treatment of acute myeloid leukemia.
Before embarking on a career in industry, Mr. Gardner spent 22 years doing academic research at UC San Diego in the Department of Medicine. His early work focused primarily on the purification and characterization of Phospholipase A1. As the lab evolved, he acquired critical skills in synthetic chemistry, HPLC, and pharmacokinetics, including in vivo tissue distribution studies of proprietary antiviral compounds.
In 2015, Mr. Gardner established the Bioanalytical/DMPK group at SBP to provide in vitro support to the Prebys Center’s drug discovery program. He continues to expand the suite of assays available to the medicinal chemistry group, and his broad background has been of benefit to many, both within and outside of the Prebys Center.