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Tucker A Patterson Ph.D.
Leadership Role
Director - National Center for Toxicological Research

Tucker Patterson, Ph.D., NCTR Director
Tucker A Patterson Ph.D.

Tucker A. Patterson, Ph.D. was selected as Center Director at the FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) in March 2023 after serving as the Acting Director since March 2022. Dr. Patterson continues to serve as the Deputy Director for Research in the Office of the Center Director/Office of Research, a position held since December 2020. 

Prior to this appointment, he served two years as the Associate Director for Science & Policy and over seven years as the Associate Director and Health Science Program Manager in Regulatory Compliance & Risk Management at NCTR. 

Dr. Patterson received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and a doctorate in pharmacology from the University of South Carolina. He completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship with the Center for the Neurobiology of Aging at the University of Florida and continued his postdoctoral training at NCTR through a postgraduate research appointment with the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education and as a staff fellow. Dr. Patterson worked for three years as a toxicologist for the State of Arkansas at the Livestock and Poultry Commission prior to returning to NCTR in 2001 where he worked in the Division of Neurotoxicology as a senior scientist until 2010.

Dr. Patterson has been involved in neuroscience and neurotoxicology research for more than thirty years and has authored or co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles and book chapters.  

Resources For You


Select Publications

Three-Dimensional Structural Insights Have Revealed the Distinct Binding Interactions of Agonists, Partial Agonists, and Antagonists with µ Opioid Receptor (Review)
Li Z., Liu J., Dong F., Chang N., Huang R., Xia M., Patterson T.A., and Hong H. 
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24, 7042.

Mold2 Descriptors Facilitate Development of Machine Learning and Deep Learning Models for Predicting Toxicity of Chemicals. (Book Chapter)
Hong H., Liu J., Ge W., Sakkiah S., Guo W., Yavas G., Zhang C., Gong P., Tong W. and  Patterson T.A. 
In: Hong H. (Ed.) Machine Learning and Deep Learning in Computational Toxicology. Computational Methods in Engineering & the Sciences. 2023, pp. 297-321, Springer, Cham. 

Machine Learning for Predicting Organ Toxicity. (Book Chapter) 
Liu J., Guo W., Dong F., Patterson T.A. and Hong H. 
In: Hong H. (Ed.) Machine Learning and Deep Learning in Computational Toxicology. Computational Methods in Engineering & the Sciences. 2023, pp. 519-537, Springer, Cham. 

Machine Learning for Predicting Gas Adsorption Capacities of Metal Organic Framework. (Book Chapter) 
Guo W., Liu J., Patterson T.A. and Hong H. 
In: Hong H. (Ed.) Machine Learning and Deep Learning in Computational Toxicology. Computational Methods in Engineering & the Sciences. 2023, pp. 629-654, Springer, Cham.

Machine Learning Models for Rat Multigeneration Reproductive Toxicity Prediction
Liu J., Guo W., Dong F., Aungst J., Fitzpatrick S., Patterson T. and Hong H. 
Front. Pharmacol. 2022, 13:1018226.

Machine Learning Models for Predicting Liver Toxicity. (Book Chapter)
Liu J., Guo W., Sakkiah S., Ji Z., Yavas G., Zou W., Chen M., Tong W., Patterson T.A., and Hong H. 
In: Benfenati E. (Ed.) In Silico Methods for Predicting Drug Toxicity. Methods in Molecular Biology. 2022, vol. 2425, Humana, New York, NY. 

Machine Learning Models for Predicting Cytotoxicity of Nanomaterials
Ji Z., Guo W., Wood E.L., Liu J., Sakkiah S., Xu X., Patterson T.A., and Hong H. 
Chem. Res. Toxicol. 2022, 35:125-139.

Application of Nonhuman Primate Models in the Studies of Pediatric Anesthesia Neurotoxicity.  
Wang C., Liu S., Liu F., Bhutta A., Patterson T.A., and Slikker Jr. W. 
Anesth. Analg. 2022.

Elucidation of Agonist and Antagonist Binding Mechanisms of ER-α by Integration of Molecular Docking, Molecular Dynamics Simulations and Quantum Mechanical Calculations.
Sakkiah S., Selvaraj C., Guo W., Liu J., Ge W., Patterson T.A. and Hong, H.
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22, 9371.

AI-Powered Drug Repurposing for Developing COVID-19 Treatments. (Book Chapter)  
Liu Z., Chen X., Carter W., Moruf A., Komatsu T.E., Pahwa S., Chan-Tack K., Snyder K., Petrick N., Cha K., Lal-Nag M., Hatim Q., Thakkar S., Lin Y., Huang R., Wang D., Patterson T.A., and Tong W. 
Reference Module in Biomedical Sciences. 2022, Elsevier, Inc. 

The NMDA Receptor System and Developmental Neurotoxicity. (Book Chapter)
Wang C., Liu S., Liu F., Patterson T.A., and Slikker W. 
In: Kostrzewa R.M. (Ed.) Handbook of Neurotoxicity. 2022, Springer, Cham.


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