This article appeared in Catalyst Magazine, Spring 2024
Chemist Margaret Chu-Moyer (B.S. '87, Chem; Ph.D. '89, Org Chem, Yale), a member of the Advisory Board of the College of Chemistry, remembers wondering how medicines worked early in life. "I remember thinking, 'I take medicine and I am well; what is that about?'" she says with a small smile. "In junior high I [also] used to wonder about the big words on my shampoo bottle."
The leap she has since made from wondering to becoming a medicinal chemist, someone who designs and makes molecules for medicinal applications, is no small feat. And while she credits her journey to the foundation of people who provided support along the way—her high school chemistry teacher, her Berkeley professor Henry Rapoport and Yale professor Samuel Danishefsky and even her husband, Mikel Moyer (Ph.D. '86)—it's clear that Chu-Moyer's focus and vision were the driving forces behind her success.
Chu-Moyer started her college journey at Berkeley in 1983. Nervous about her initial performance in Chem 1, she thought, "Am I really cut out to be a chemist?" She found herself volunteering at a pharmacy on campus and ultimately doing research in Professor Rapoport's lab over the summer after deciding to study organic chemistry. "I really enjoyed the representation of molecules with what I call a different language— and how to name them and put them together. At the same time, I didn't know then that it had anything to do with drug discovery." She continued to do research in Professor Rapoport's lab through her junior year, the following summer and senior year and began to understand that these organic molecules could be characterized as therapeutics. It was in Professor Rapoport's group that she met her now husband, who also was interested in medicinal chemistry.
After leaving Berkeley, Chu-Moyer earned her Ph.D. and went on to pursue an opportunity at Pfizer that would last 16 years. Today, she is VP, Research, at Amgen and head of smallmolecule therapeutic discovery and research technologies. But when she looks back at how her life has changed most significantly and what she is most proud of, she mentions two things: first, her personal accomplishments. "[My husband and I] were married in 1987, and I could see where chemistry could go because of him, but our total syntheses include our 3 sons, and now they are going on to their own careers," she said proudly.
Of their sons, one is an MD, one is a fourthyear student pursuing his MD, and the youngest has been accepted into a chemical biology graduate program. The biology is strong in the family when it comes to medicine and chemistry. Secondly, she discusses her professional accomplishments. "I'm really proud of the grounding I got at Berkeley, followed by working for a Berkeley alum in a lab and ultimately [a career in] inventing therapeutics through small-molecule drug discovery for devastating diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease and inflammation."
Chu-Moyer's group was responsible for discovering the small-molecule KRAS G12C inhibitor, AMG 510/sotorasib, which can be used to treat a variety of solid tumors. AMG 510/sotorasib entered clinical trials in June 2019 and was granted accelerated approval in the U.S. in May 2021 as LUMAKRAS® for the treatment of KRAS G12C-mutated locally advanced or metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer.
Patients are at the forefront of what Chu-Moyer and her team focus on when developing a therapeutic. "We're trying to solve very difficult problems, and there are a lot of criteria. Many things must come together to invent the actual therapeutic," she said. Chu-Moyer reflects on personal experiences frequently when it comes to her work affecting those around her. Hearing from a friend or colleague about a family member who has renewed hope or whose quality of life has improved as the result of a drug she has helped invent is a feeling she can't quite describe, but Chu-Moyer is humbly disbelieving.
"It's very gratifying to know that our molecules are improving patient lives. From my teenage years wondering about medicines to actually inventing medicines ... this is what it is all about."