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Stephen V. Frye, PhD, is a UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center member and the Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor. Frye is the Director of the Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery at UNC-Chapel Hill, and is also the lead principal investigator for the North Carolina Comprehensive Chemical Biology Center.

PhD
Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor, Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry
UNC-Chapel Hill
Molecular Therapeutics

Area of Interest

Stephen Frye, PhD, is a Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor and the Director of the Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery (CICBDD) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is also co-director of the Molecular Therapeutics program in the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and the lead principal investigator for the North Carolina Comprehensive Chemical Biology Center, a UNC-based, National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated center that engages in oncology drug discovery.

Prior to joining UNC to create the CICBDD in 2007, Frye was the world-wide vice president of Discovery Medicinal Chemistry (DMC) at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Frye led DMC for seven years, overseeing five departments and more than 200 chemists in the U.S. and U.K. developing global target-class chemical science for GSK. During his 20-year career at GSK, the teams/departments led by Frye successfully developed three FDA approved drugs: Avodart, a dual 5alpha-reductase inhibitor for treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia, Tykerb, a dual erbB2/EGFR inhibitor for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, and Pazopanib, a multi-targeted receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma and soft tissue sarcoma.

As director of the Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery at UNC, Frye plays a key role in translational research through collaborative drug discovery projects with other UNC faculty. In addition, his Center has initiated a program in the area of chemical biology of chromatin regulation with an emphasis on methyl-lysine reading domains. The first IND approved compound discovered in the Center, entered clinical trials in 2018.

Awards and Honors

  • American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow, 2021
  • CEOs Award, Glaxo Research Institute (Special award for leadership of the 5 alpha-reductase project that led to Avodart GSK marketed product), 1993
  • American Chemical Society, Organic Division Fellowship, 1986-87
  •  University of North Carolina, Off Campus Graduate Fellowship, 1986
  • University of North Carolina, Board of Governors Fellowship in Science and Technology, 1985-86
  • University of North Carolina, Department of Chemistry, Dobbins Fellowship, 1984
  • University of North Carolina, Department of Chemistry, Reilley Fellowship, 1983
  • Graduated summa cum laude from NCSU, 1983

Find publications on PubMed

News and Stories

Headshot of Stephen Frye