Ecker received his doctorate in natural sciences from the University of Vienna in 1991,[2] became appointed Associate Professor for Medicinal Chemistry in 1998 and Full Professor for Pharmacoinformatics in 2009.[3]
Ecker is Editor of Molecular Informatics[4] and coordinates the EUROPIN PhD programme in Pharmacoinformatics.[citation needed] Currently he is also President of the European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry.[5]
Research
Ecker's research focuses on computational drug design which not only led to the identification of highly active propafenone-type inhibitors of P-glycoprotein,[6][7][8] but also paved the way for development of new descriptors and virtual screening approaches for identification of new scaffolds active at P-gp. With the increasing knowledge on the importance of P-gp for ADME, his interest moved towards the prediction of P-gp substrate properties.[9] Around 2010 he extended the studies also on other antitargets, such as the hERG potassium channel,[10] as well as on the serotonin transporter,[11] the GABA receptor[12] and the insulin receptor.[13]
^Jabeen, I.; Wetwitayaklung, P.; Klepsch, F.; Parveen, Z.; Chiba, P.; Ecker, G. F. (2011). "Probing the stereoselectivity of P-glycoprotein—synthesis, biological activity and ligand docking studies of a set of enantiopure benzopyrano\3,4-b]\1,4]oxazines". Chemical Communications. 47 (9): 2586–2588. doi:10.1039/C0CC03075A. PMID21173990. S2CID205756984.
^Sugano, K.; Kansy, M.; Artursson, P.; Avdeef, A.; Bendels, S.; Di, L.; Ecker, G. F.; Faller, B.; Fischer, H.; Gerebtzoff, G. G.; Lennernaes, H.; Senner, F. (2010). "Coexistence of passive and carrier-mediated processes in drug transport". Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 9 (8): 597–614. doi:10.1038/nrd3187. PMID20671764. S2CID34829942.
^Thai, K. M.; Windisch, A.; Stork, D.; Weinzinger, A.; Schiesaro, A.; Guy, R. H.; Timin, E. N.; Hering, S.; Ecker, G. F. (2010). "The hERG Potassium Channel and Drug Trapping: Insight from Docking Studies with Propafenone Derivatives". ChemMedChem. 5 (3): 436–442. doi:10.1002/cmdc.200900374. PMID20146282. S2CID23597808.