From Gila Monster to Medical Miracle: The Development of GLP-1 Drugs

This will be a live presentation at the MOST, as well as available online at Zoom. Register above and an optional Zoom link will be provided.

What does a venomous Gila monster have to do with treating diabetes and obesity? This presentation tells the remarkable story of GLP-1-based therapeutics, from their discovery in reptile venom through the chemical innovations that made them viable drug candidates, to their current status as some of the most prescribed medications worldwide. We’ll explore where GLP-1 receptors are found throughout the human body, explain why this distribution matters for drug effects, and examine surprising new applications including their potential role in treating addiction. Finally, we’ll look at future developments such as oral formulations, next-generation multi-agonists, and strategies to enhance or modulate their activity.

Presenter: Jon French is an Associate Teaching Professor of Chemistry at Syracuse University, where he primarily teaches the General Chemistry sequence and serves as Director of Undergraduate Studies for the department. He obtained his PhD in Chemistry from the University at Buffalo, where he focused on developing novel reactions. This work ultimately led to the development of technology that could be used to recover precious metal catalysts from reaction waste streams. His interest in materials science led him to a postdoctoral position at the University of Delaware working on self-healing polymer networks. Material from today’s talk comes from a Medicinal Chemistry course where he first explored the fascinating story of GLP-1 drugs, a topic that combines organic chemistry, biochemistry, and drug design to demonstrate the real-world impact of chemical research.