Research Interests
In addition to his teaching and graduate student advisory roles, Dr. Tidwell's research is focused on the design and synthesis of new drugs for the treatment of AIDS-associated opportunistic infections. The rationale for design of new drugs is directed at determining the mechanisms of action, antimicrobial activity, and pharmacokinetics of dicationic molecules. Studies have been initiated to isolate and identify new drug targets from Pneumocystis carinii and Cryptosporidium parvum utilizing molecular modeling and biochemical methods to aid in the determination of new structures. The role of proteases and imidazoline receptors in the pathogenesis of disease continues to be a major area of research as well as a new prodrug approach for the cationic molecules to allow for much improved bioavailability.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded $15.1 million to an international consortium of researchers lead by Dr. Richard Tidwell to develop new drugs to fight African sleeping sickness and leishmaniasis--two diseases that are infecting and killing millions of people in developing nations. The five-year grant brings together some of the world's top experts in drug development and delivery to target the two devastating parasitic diseases. Dr. Tidwell is the principal investigator of the consortium which involves more than a dozen faculty and scientists from UNC-Chapel Hill, Georgia State University, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Ohio State University, the Swiss Tropical Institute, the Kenya Trypanosomiasis Research Institute, and Immtech International, Inc.
Dr. Tidwell also participates in the UNC-Chapel Hill Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) as the director of the Clinical Pharmacology/Analytical Chemistry Core. The clinical pharmacology/analytical chemistry core is designed to provide a centralized facility to advise, support and perform pharmacological and analytical studies of AIDS-related clinical and basic science research projects for the UNC CFAR. Core services include the following:
- measurement of anti-retroviral drug concentrations in biological fluids, including blood plasma, seminal plasma, urine and cerebrospinal fluid,
- analysis of drug concentration in Phase I/II drug development investigations of anti-retroviral agents in drug interaction protocols and in special patient populations, and
- evaluation of pharmacodynamic effects of measured drug concentrations (e.g.,correlation with viral load data, and correlation with metabolic probe findings of cytochrome P450 enzyme activities).
