Briner received her B.S. and Ph.D. degrees working at the University of Zurich with Professor Andrea Vasella.[1] She pursued postdoctoral studies at Indiana University with Prof. William Roush,[2] developing new methods to stereoselectively synthesize natural product glycosides.[3]
Career
After completing postdoctoral studies, Briner was hired at Eli Lilly & Company as a Senior Chemist in Infectious Diseases. Her work eventually evolved into central nervous system disorders such as depression, evidenced by multiple selective compounds against various serotonin receptors. She became the Managing Director of the Lilly Research Centre, UK, from 2007–2010. Briner was hired by the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research as the Global Head of Chemistry in 2011. Since that time, her team has been involved in the development of multiple new drug launches, for example nilotinib,[4]ceritinib, panobinostat, and Entresto. Briner left Novartis in late 2022, and is currently Senior Vice President, Head of Drug Discovery at Genentech.
^Roush, William R.; Briner, Karin; Kesler, Brenda S.; Murphy, Megan; Gustin, Darin J. (January 1996). "Studies on the Synthesis of Aureolic Acid Antibiotics: Acyloin Glycosidation Studies". The Journal of Organic Chemistry. 61 (18): 6098–6099. doi:10.1021/jo960932e. ISSN0022-3263. PMID11667440.
^Briner, Karin; Mathes, Brian M.; Ramón, Diego J.; Yus, Miguel (2014-10-20), "Lithium", Encyclopedia of Reagents for Organic Synthesis, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, pp. 1–8, doi:10.1002/047084289x.rl034.pub3, ISBN9780470842898