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Research

The research activities of the Pharmacology Program are directed at understanding how drugs and chemicals modify biological systems. Researchers are also focused on using and developing new drugs to treat diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, atherosclerosis, epilepsy, anxiety disorders, Alzheimer's disease, and autism.

Drs. Jochen Buck and Lonny Levin collaborate. They discovered a new signaling pathway via an intracellular, soluble adenylyl cyclase. This signaling pathway plays a role in cell metabolism, insulin action, axonal guidance, and in sperm activation.

Dr. Luca Cartegni is developing a pharmacological approach to control/correct aberrant pre-mRNA splicing events in tumors.

Dr. Gabriela Chiosis uses chemical biology approaches to understand the role of molecular chaperones in cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr. Samuel Danishefsky's laboratory focuses on synthesizing new drugs for cancer therapy.

Dr. Diane Felsen is co-director of the Institute for Pediatric Urology Research Laboratory. Her lab studies oxidative stress in the obstructed kidney and other renal disease models. The lab also investigates cellular mechanisms of wound healing and the use of novel biomaterials for urologic reconstruction.

Dr. Paraskevi Giannakakou's lab is studying drug-resistance mechanisms specific to microtubule-targeting cancer chemotherapy drugs as well as the biological functions of the microtubule cytoskeleton in intracellular trafficking and signaling in interphase cancer cells.

Dr. Steven Gross is defining nitric oxide dependent signal transduction pathways and developing therapies for diseases that are associated with an excess or insufficiency of nitric oxide. The lab is also applying comprehensive mass spectrometry-based "metabolomic" approaches to address biomedical problems involving cell signaling, inborn errors of metabolism, cancer and stem cell biology.

Dr. Lorraine Gudas analyzes how derivatives of vitamin A (retinoids) regulate both cellular differentiation and cellular proliferation during development and in the process of tumor formation.

Dr. Daniel Heller studies bioengineering and nanomaterials for molecular sensors and targeted therapeutics, and clinically-applied nanotechnology.

Dr. Hugh Hemmings studies neuronal cell signaling with a focus on regulation of protein phosphorylation by protein phosphatases, presynaptic mechanisms of general anesthetics including the role of sodium channels, neuroprotection, and novel analgesia therapies.

Dr. Timothy Hla is interested in the biology of sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) which activates G protein-coupled receptors to regulate angiogenesis, vascular inflammation and immune cell trafficking. His lab is defining molecular mechanisms of receptor biology and signaling in vascular development, homeostasis and disease. He is also interested in how S1P receptor biology can be used to develop novel therapeutics and the characterization of S1P receptor modulators in the clinic with respect to mechanism of action and adverse events.

Dr. Charles Inturrisi is examining the long term outcomes of treatments for chronic cancer and noncancer pain received by Pain Clinic patients. The effectiveness information obtained will allow a determination of which patients benefit from the currently available interventions used for the management of chronic pain and the cost effectiveness of these treatments.

Dr. Samie Jaffrey uses molecular and chemical biology approaches to study signal transduction in neurons and other cells. Another focus of his laboratory is RNA modifications, microscopic techniques for imaging RNA trafficking, and RNA-based sensors for imaging molecules in cells.

Dr. Michael Kharas' laboratory studies both normal and leukemic stem cells using mouse genetics and pharmacological approaches.The lab is also focused on understanding the role of RNA binding proteins in hematopoietic development.

Dr. Richard Kolesnick discovered the sphingomyelin signal transduction pathway, and is identifying how this pathway initiates stress-induced apoptotic death

Dr. Francis Lee is studying how trafficking of neurotrophins and their receptors regulates central nervous system function.

Dr. Roberto Levi is investigating the role of mast cell-derived renin in cardiac diseases and the cardioprotective effects of a novel histamine receptor subtype (the H3-receptor), which he discovered is activated in myocardial ischemia.

Dr. Yueming Li's lab studies the reaction mechanism of membrane proteases, determines their function and regulation in cell signaling, and develops novel protease-targeted therapies using an integrated approach of biochemistry, cell biology, chemical biology and proteomics

Dr. Minkui Luo's lab aims at developing new chemical genetic tools to define, perturb and manipulate essential functions of the enzymes involving protein posttranslational modification.

Dr. Ingo Mellinghoff's laboratory focuses on the molecular pathogenesis of primary brain tumors. Our current focus is to understand how genetic aberrations in growth factor signaling promote the initiation, progression, and/or maintenance of glioblastoma. 

Dr. Ari Melnick's lab uses biochemical, epigenomic, computational, cellular and animal model approaches to define the mechanism of action of oncogenic transcription factors. The group also works on the design of drugs to target oncogenic transcription factors and to develop combinatorial biologically targeted therapy for several types of cancer. 

Dr. Gavril Pasternak uses molecular biological, biochemical and behavioral approaches to characterize opioid receptor splice variants and their analgesic mechanisms.

Dr. Marcus Reidenberg is focused on issues of general interest to clinical pharmacology. These include drug discontinuation syndromes and working on issues relevant to the World Health Organization Essential Medicines program.

Dr. Arleen Rifkind is investigating the signaling pathways and target genes by which activation of the cellular aryl hydrocarbon receptor, by the environmental toxin dioxin and other ligands, produces toxicities including impaired nutrient metabolism, cardiac function, energy production and carcinogenesis.

Dr. Neal Rosen's laboratory is identifying and characterizing signal transduction pathways that cause the dysregulation of growth and inhibition of apoptosis that typify advanced human cancer.

Dr. Anthony Sauve is studying enzymes that use nicotinamide to regulate the processes of DNA repair, gene silencing and longevity.

Dr. David Scheinberg is developing immunotherapeutic drugs using monoclonal antibodies conjugated to alpha emitting elements and other toxic compounds that specifically target sites on tumor cells.

Dr. Hazel Szeto's laboratory is involved in the development of drugs that protect against mitochondrial oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction.

Dr. Derek Tan uses diversity-oriented synthesis and rational drug design to identify new chemichal biology probes for studying biological systems and as potential therapeutic leads in cancer and infectious diseases.

Dr. Miklos Toth studies how dysfunction in specific genes leads to the development and manifestation of psychiatric symptoms and conditions associated with anxiety.