Michal Lebl graduated from the laboratory of prof. Ferles at The University of Chemical Technology (VSCHT), where he worked on the chemistry of pyridine derivatives, in 1974. He finished his Ph.D. (CSc) studies (under the guidance of dr. Jost) at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in Prague in 1978, and he worked in this institute as a graduate student, scientist, and finally Department Head for 17 years. In 1992 he defended his D.Sc. (Organic Chemistry) title in the same institution. At that time he was already working as the Director of Chemistry in Selectide Corporation, the first combinatorial chemistry company in the world, in Tucson. Selectide developed the one-bead-one-compound technology (invented by Kit Lam) that allows the simultaneous synthesis and screening of millions of organic compounds for their potential biological activity leading to the development of new drugs. Selectide was purchased by Marion-Merrel-Dow in 1995 and later by Hoechst. Michal Lebl decided to leave to build the Department of Automation together with Viktor Krchnak at Houghten Pharmaceuticals (later renamed Trega Biosciences), the early competitor of Selectide. In 1993 he formed Spyder Instruments together with Richard Houghten and Jutta Eichler. Spyder Instruments was merged with the new startup biotech company Illumina Inc. in 2000, and Dr. Lebl worked there for 13 years as Senior Director of Automation developing tilted centrifugation technology for the massively parallel synthesis of peptides and oligonucleotides, high throughput protease assays, and "optical nose" technologies. In 2010 he founded Spyder Institute with laboratories in San Diego and in Prague, Czech Republic, dedicated to development of new synthetic technologies and proteomic assays with the focus on cancer diagnostics.
Dr. Lebl was co-editor of Molecular Diversity and served on boards of the Journal of Combinatorial Chemistry and Collection of Czechoslovak Chemical Communications. As a result of his pioneering efforts in peptide chemistry and automated synthesis, Dr. Lebl is the recipient of several awards, the most prestigious being the Leonidas Zervas Award of the European Peptide Society. He received the 2003 Jouan Award for his contributions to laboratory automation and laboratory process improvement. He is affiliated with The Scripps Research Institute, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute and Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies in San Diego and with Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Academy of Sciences of Czech Republic in Prague. He is a member of the American and Czech Chemical Societies, American and European Peptide Societies, and serves on the scientific advisory boards of several companies. He has published over 270 papers, authored over 50 patents, co-authored several books, and edited several proceedings of American and European peptide symposia. His software Peptide Companion is installed on hundreds of computers worldwide. In the free time he enjoys photography, orienteering, geocaching and playing GO.
Employment history
1974-1991 Peptide Chemist, Group Leader, Department Head, Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechoslovakia. Studied structure-activity relationships of peptide hormones and developed several drug candidates, one of which is used as a veterinary drug in Europe. Developed the technique of continuous solid phase synthesis utilizing continuous solid support, designed and built an automated multiple peptide synthesizer based on the centrifugation synthesis method COMPAS 242.
1983,1986,1989 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Visiting Professor, Consultant, University of Arizona, Tucson. Developed solid phase synthesis of cyclic peptides utilizing cyclization of tethered linear peptides. Designed and synthesized analogs of MSH, MCH, neurohypophysial hormones, in the projects leading to several clinical candidates.
1991-1996 Director of Chemistry, Selectide Corporation, Tucson, Arizona. As the head of Chemistry Department validated the technology of one-bead-one-compound libraries on model and real targets. Developed technique for screening libraries in solution, designed and built the automatic library synthesizer APLS-1 and automatic continuous array synthesizer MARS-1 utilizing synthesis in disposable syringes. Selectide was purchased by Marrion-Merrel-Dow and later merged into Hoechst, becoming thus a part of the largest chemical company in the world.
1996-1999 Senior Director of Robotics and Synthesis Automation, Trega Biosciences, Inc., San Diego, CA. Built and served as the head of the Department of Robotic Synthesis. Developed automatic stations allowing for semi-automated synthesis of large arrays of small organic molecules with capacity of 5000 compounds/day. Designed and validated synthetic technology using centrifugation of tilted plates.
1993-2002 President, Spyder Instruments, San Diego, CA. Formed the company for commercialization of automatic synthesizer COMPAS 242 based on centrifugal solvent removal and inclusion volume coupling (licensed from Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechoslovakia). Cross-licensed technologies owned by Spyder and Trega for centrifugal synthetic techniques. Sold the company to Illumina, Inc.
1999-2011 Senior Director of Automation, Illumina, Inc., San Diego. As the head of Department of High Throughput Synthesis developed automated DNA synthesizers capable of the world highest throughput and most economical synthesis of DNA. In parallel managed the program of cross-reactive optical sensors.
2010-present President, Spyder Institute, LLC, San Diego, and Spyder Institut s.r.o., Praha, Czech Republic