{"id":9743,"date":"2026-06-12T12:01:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T12:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.theck1.no\/?p=9743"},"modified":"2026-06-12T12:01:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T12:01:49","slug":"job-titles-of-the-future-natures-drug-designer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.theck1.no\/?p=9743","title":{"rendered":"Job titles of the future: Nature\u2019s drug designer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nAnna Gibbs<\/strong>
\n •
\nJune 11, 2026\n<\/div>\n\n

In 2018, after nearly two decades working in Big Pharma, chemist Tim Cernak was ready to put his skills to a new use. <\/p>\n

For Merck, he\u2019d developed precision therapies for cancer, HIV, and diabetes that could target disease while minimizing harm to healthy cells. But as a lifelong nature lover, he was increasingly concerned about the health of ecosystems and wondered whether his expertise could transfer. Animals, he learned, are often treated with pharmaceuticals formulated for humans, which affect them like old-school cancer drugs: Though intended to kill abnormal cells, they\u2019re indiscriminate in the harm they cause. For instance, the standard of care for frogs infected with a deadly skin infection is itraconazole, an antifungal that is often lethal for the amphibian.<\/p>\n

Cernak imagines a world where \u201cthe patient was always meant to be a frog in the first place, from the beginning to the end.\u201d Now an associate professor at the University of Michigan, he\u2019s worked on all types of creatures, from a Gila monster with a parasite to bald eagles with avian flu. Here\u2019s what it takes to treat nature\u2019s patients.<\/p>\n

Experience with protein-modeling software <\/h3>\n

Developing any type of drug is extremely expensive, failure-prone, and slow-going. But AI can speed up the entire drug-\u00addesign workflow, says Cernak. Google DeepMind\u2019s AlphaFold model allows him to visualize a mutant protein\u2019s three-\u00addimensional structure on a screen\u2014rather than growing it on a plate, the traditional methodology\u2014and then quickly generate possible new drugs that would latch onto that structure. The next step is to run a series of reactions and see which potential drugs may be effective; with the help of robots in the lab, he can speed through as many as 1,500 per day. <\/p>\n

Curiosity about creatures\u00a0of all sizes<\/h3>\n

Cernak isn\u2019t selective with his patients. For example, he worked on a treatment for loggerhead sea turtles after he was shocked to learn that the iconic species suffered from contagious tumors. He feels especially drawn to creatures that have helped humans, like the Gila monster, whose hormones have informed popular weight-loss drugs like Ozempic. And it\u2019s not just animals; he\u2019s also developing a precision insecticide to treat hemlock trees under attack from invasive species. <\/p>\n

A pioneering spirit<\/h3>\n

Cernak refers to this new discipline as \u201cconservation chemistry.\u201d It\u2019s a combination of words with a loaded history, from DDT decimating US bald eagle populations in the 1960s, to cow painkillers killing millions of Indian vultures in the \u201990s. He recognizes the risks, but Cernak feels that excluding chemists from conservation is a missed opportunity. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just sick of looking at the chemical tools that are used in the conservation space, and they\u2019re not cutting-edge,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s like, how do you have this super high-tech engine over here for making human medicines, while we\u2019re living through a mass extinction?\u201d <\/p>\n

Anna Gibbs is a journalist who covers the intersection between science and society.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read the full article →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anna Gibbs • June 11, 2026 In 2018, after nearly two decades working in Big Pharma, chemist Tim Cernak was ready to put his skills to a new use.  For Merck, he\u2019d developed precision therapies for cancer, HIV, and diabetes that could target disease while minimizing harm to healthy cells. But as a lifelong nature<\/p>\n

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