Administrative Core

Administrative Core The objective of the Administrative Core is to link together the various elements of the Weill Cornell Medicine Contraception Research Center (WCM-CRC). This center, titled “On-demand nonhormonal male contraception via ADCY10 inhibition,” has a singular scientific theme; to identify the safest and most efficacious means for blocking soluble adenylyl cyclase (sAC; ADCY10) in vivo to achieve an on-demand contraceptive pill for men. To achieve this goal, the WCM-CRC leverages the established inter-disciplinary team comprised of expertise in sAC physiology, pharmacology, biochemistry, reproductive biology, structural biology, enzymology, computational modeling, medicinal chemistry, and drug development. This team, which has been effectively and efficiently working together for the past 4 years, successfully advanced sAC inhibitors into potent, specific, drug-like leads that demonstrated proof-of-concept for on- demand male contraception in vivo in mice. This administrative core mirrors the successful administrative core from the previously funded WCM-CRC; all personnel and operational resources are maintained. Due to the advancements made over the past four years, the WCM-CRC investigative team joined forces with an expert in reproductive biology and an expert in contraceptive marketing and end-user preferences to form Sacyl Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (SACYL), a biotech company established to further develop and market sAC inhibitors as nonhormonal, on-demand birth control pills for men. SACYL will provide `Pharma-quality' drug development expertise to augment the work proposed in this application. In addition to ensuring that the established group of collaborators comprising the WCM-CRC functions as a single entity, the WCM- CRC Administrative Core will be responsible for maintaining complementarity between the WCM-CRC and SACYL as well as fostering interactions between the WCM-CRC and NICHD program personnel, investigators in other CRCs, and regulatory agencies. The Core's administrative responsibilities include planning, flow of information, developing resources, outreach, and overall administration for the WCM- CRC. In practice, the WCM-CRC Administrative Core will provide structure and oversight for the already existing relationships between the two co-Principal Investigators, the other project leaders, SACYL, and the Center's advisory committees.