Lawrence Toll, Ph.D.

Dr. Lawrence Toll earned his Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry at UCLA in 1978. He stayed on at UCLA as a postdoctoral fellow in Biological Chemistry through 1979 at which time he accepted a second postdoctoral fellowship in Pharmacology at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, where he worked for the renowned neuroscientist, Dr. Solomon Snyder. In 1981, Dr. Toll joined SRI International in Menlo Park, California, where he stayed until 2011. Dr. Toll’s research took him to France in 1994-1995 and again in 2004-2005 where he worked as a Visiting Scientist, first in the Laboratoire de Pharmacologie et de Toxicologie Fondamentales, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Toulouse, France, and then at the University of Louis Pasteur, Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire in Strasbourg, France. In 2011, Dr. Toll joined Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies as a Full Member and Director of Neuropharmacology and moved to Florida Atlantic University as a Full Professor in 2018. Dr. Toll’s research focuses on the management of pain and drug addiction through pharmacology and new drug discovery. His basic research on opioid and NOP systems, and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, as well as his identification and characterization of endogenous neuropeptides, have opened new avenues of research and identified novel drug targets. In collaboration with medicinal chemists, Dr. Toll seeks to explore basic mechanisms and the biochemical basis of chronic pain and drug addiction, and to identify novel medications for both disorders. He is internationally recognized as the co-discoverer of the neuropeptide, nociception, the endogenous ligand for the NOP receptor, the fourth member of the opioid receptor family. Dr. Toll’s work has been chronicled in over 130 publications, and 9 patents issued or pending. He has been continually funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse for 30 years.

• 1978: Ph.D., Biological Chemistry, UCLA, Los Angeles, California
• 1979: Post-Doctoral Fellow, UCLA, Los Angeles, California
• 1979-81 Secondary Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Pharmacology, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland

• 2018-Present: Professor, Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine and Investigator, Brain Institute, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL
• 2011-2018: Member and Director of Neuropharmacology, Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, Port Sr. Lucie, FL
• Visiting Scientist: 1994-1995 Laboratoire de Pharmacologie et de Toxicologie Fondamentales, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Toulouse, France
• Visiting Scientist: 2004-2005 University of Louis Pasteur, Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Strasbourg, France
• 1981-2011: SRI International in Menlo Park, California

• Brunori G, Schoch J, Mercatelli D, Ozawa A, Toll L, Cippitelli A. The influence of neuropathic pain on nAChR plasticity and behavioral responses to nicotine in rats. Pain. 2018 Jun 21. PMID: 29939964
• Ozawa A, Brunori G, Cippitelli A, Toll N, Schoch J, Kieffer BL, Toll L. Analysis of the distribution of spinal NOP receptors in a chronic pain model using NOP-eGFP knock-in mice. Br J Pharmacol. 2018 Jul;175(13):2662-2675. PMID: 29582417
• Cippitelli A, Brunori G, Schoch J, Armishaw CJ, Wu J, Zaveri NT, Giulianotti MA, Welmaker GS, Toll L. Differential regulation of alcohol taking and seeking by antagonism at α4β2 and α3β4 nAChRs. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2018 Jun;235(6):1745-1757. PMID: 29572652
• Wu J, Cippitelli A, Zhang Y, Debevec G, Schoch J, Ozawa A, Yu Y, Liu H, Chen W, Houghten RA, Welmaker GS, Giulianotti MA, Toll L. Highly Selective and Potent α4β2 nAChR Antagonist Inhibits Nicotine Self-Administration and Reinstatement in Rats. J Med Chem. 2017 Dec 28;60(24):10092-10104. PMID: 29178785
• Madariaga-Mazón A, Marmolejo-Valencia AF, Li Y, Toll L, Houghten RA, Martinez-Mayorga K. Mu-Opioid receptor biased ligands: A safer and painless discovery of analgesics? Drug Discov Today. 2017 Nov;22(11):1719-1729. PMID: 28743488

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Active Funding

• R01DA023281 PI: Lawrence Toll MIXED NOP/MU COMPOUNDS AND THE INVOLVEMENT OF THEIR RECEPTORS IN ANALGESIA Period 2018-2022
• R01DA040882 PIs: Lawrence Toll and Akihiko Ozawa NPQ/SPEXIN THE ENDOGENOUS LIGAND FOR THE GALANIN RECEPTOR 3 Period 2016-2019
• R41AA025298 PI: Lawrence Toll DISCOVERY OF ALPHA4BETA2 NICOTINIC RECEPTOR ANTAGONISTS AS ALCOHOL ABUSE MEDICATIONS Period 2016-2018
• R41DA044894 PI: Lawrence Toll THE KAPPA PARTIAL AGONIST PPL-103 AS A COCAINE ABUSE PHARMACOTHERAPY Period 2018-2019
• DOD Grant PI: Lawrence Toll SIGMA RECEPTOR LIGANDS AS NONOPIOID-BASED PAIN MANAGEMENT Period 2017-2019