Jerry Pelletier

Jerry Pelletier has been a leader in developing translation initiation inhibitors as cancer therapeutics, particularly targeting the RNA helicase eIF4A with natural products including silvestrol and rocaglamide derivatives. His laboratory demonstrated that eIF4A inhibition selectively suppresses translation of mRNAs with structured 5-prime UTRs encoding oncoproteins including MYC, cyclin D1, and MCL-1. He has advanced multiple eIF4A inhibitors through preclinical development for hematologic malignancies. His work established translational machinery as a druggable target class in oncology.