Dr. Kirill Gorshkov is The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Highlighted Trainee Author for the September 2020 issue.  At the time the work was conducted, he was a post-doctoral trainee at the National Institutes of Health National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS).  Dr. Gorshkov is now a research scientist biology lead within the Therapeutic Development Branch at NCATS.  His mentor is Dr. Wei Zheng.  The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics article that earned his selection as a Highlighted Trainee Author is titled “Cell-Based No-Wash Fluorescence Assays for Compound Screens Using a Fluorescence Cytometry Plate Reader” and is available at https://doi.org/10.1124/jpet.120.265207.

Dr. Gorshkov’s areas of research are high-throughput assay development for drug screening, high content drug screening, iPSC-derived models for rare disease research, lysosomal storage diseases and autophagy, antiviral research, and COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2.  His current research has been fully involved in the unprecedented collaborative efforts of the NIH to combat COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. He has been engaged in developing high-throughput screening assays for novel and repurposed drug screens, as well as tools to study host-virus interactions. In addition to the pandemic research, Dr. Gorshkov is involved in several projects for Helping to End Addiction Long-Term (HEAL), as well as rare disease research projects to help neglected populations of patients, particularly children.

The anticipated impact of Dr. Gorshkov’s current research is to find novel and existing therapeutics to combat the SARS-CoV-2 virus. He hopes to provide the community with vitally needed research tools and ultimately to provide patients with a variety of therapeutic options to reduce viral load and prevent deaths due to COVID-19.

When not in the lab, Kirill enjoys billiards and boxing. He took up billiards in college at the University of Texas at Austin Student Union building and joined the collegiate team that played in regional tournaments. He took up boxing recently with his wife to get into better shape and relieve stress. Finally, he really enjoys lake fishing at the Seneca Creek State Park in Gaithersburg.