Category: Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics
Kabanov Named a Member of Elite European Academy
November 25, 2013Alexander “Sasha” Kabanov, PhD, has been named a member of the Academia Europaea, joining a distinguished group whose members include fifty-two Nobel Laureates. Kabanov is the Mescal S. Ferguson Distinguished Professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. He also oversees the School’s Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery and codirects the Carolina Institute for Nanomedicine. Academia Europaea has about 3,000 members, which include leading experts from the physical sciences and technology, biological sciences and medicine, mathematics, the letters and humanities, social and cognitive sciences, economics, and law. New members are nominated by their peers and are evaluated based on … Read more
AAPS Honors Huang with Distinguished Pharmaceutical Scientist Award
November 18, 2013Leaf Huang, PhD, is the 2013 recipient of the Distinguished Pharmaceutical Scientist Award given by the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. Huang is a Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor in the School’s Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics and is a member of the Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. He received the award from AAPS President Anthony J. DeStefano, PhD, during the opening session of the 2013 AAPS Annual Meeting and Exposition. “This award is the highest distinction awarded by the most prominent organization of pharmaceutical scientists in the world,” says Bob Blouin, PharmD, dean … Read more
Sam Lai Receives Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering
October 31, 2013Assistant Professor Sam Lai, PhD, is a recipient of a 2013 Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering, a five-year, $875,000 award that recognizes the nation’s most innovative young scientists. Lai is one of only sixteen recipients nationwide selected from a pool of 100 scientists who are nominated by fifty major research universities. His work combines biophysics and immunology to investigate how antibodies secreted into mucus may interact with mucus constituents to reinforce the body’s first line of defense against pathogens. Lai’s goal is to harness these insights to engineer next-generation antibodies and vaccines for improved protection and therapy at mucosal surfaces. … Read more
Professor Emeritus Boka Hadzija Dies, Taught at School for Forty Years
June 10, 2013Professor Emeritus Boka Hadzija, who retired from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in 2009 after forty years, died unexpectedly on Sunday, June 9. A memorial service will be held Saturday, June 22, at the Newman Catholic Student Center at 218 Pittsboro Street in Chapel Hill. “Of all her many accomplishment, what we remember most—and for what she would most want to be remembered—was her passion for teaching and for her students,” says Bob Blouin, dean of the School. “She was a woman known for her deep compassion, iron determination, expansive intellect, and engaging humor.” Hadzija earned her bachelor’s, master’s, … Read more
Byrne Wins Competition for Future Life-Science Leaders
May 22, 2013James Byrne, a graduate student in the Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics, has been awarded the grand prize in the second annual Catalent Institutes’ Global Academic Competition for Life Science Leaders of Tomorrow. Byrne’s adviser is Joe DeSimone, PhD, the Chancellor’s Eminent Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry. Byrne won the grand prize of $5,000 for his winning submission, “Treating Human Autoimmunity with Immunotherapy.” Winners were chosen from U.S. and European universities with graduate programs in pharmaceutical science, including St. John’s University, Rutgers University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Purdue University, and … Read more
Photos: Commencement 2013
May 12, 2013The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy awarded 153 doctors of pharmacy, 23 PhD’s, and 8 master’s degrees at Commencement on May 11. https://www.flickr.com//photos/uncpharmacy/sets/72157633479944268/show/
Impact Award: Byrne’s Device Better Delivers Gemcitabine to Solid Tumors
May 7, 2013Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in North Carolina, and chemotherapy has shown very limited effectiveness in treating it, one main reason being that the current standard therapy cannot penetrate tumor tissue. James Byrne, a graduate student in the Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics, designed and fabricated an electric field-assisted delivery device that would administer gemcitabine directly into the tumors. His preliminary evaluations of the device’s effectiveness in a mouse model with patient-derived pancreatic tumors indicate a greater reduction in tumor volume using the device compared to gemcitabine delivered intravenously. Byrne received a Graduate Education Advancement Board … Read more
Mumper Receives University Distinguished Teaching Award
February 2, 2013Russ Mumper, PhD, is the 2013 recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award for Post-Baccalaureate Instruction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mumper was recognized along with other recipients during a half-time ceremony at the men’s basketball game against Virginia Tech on Saturday, February 2. The award will be formally presented by Chancellor Holden Thorp at a banquet at the Carolina Club in April. Mumper is the School’s vice dean and the John A. McNeill Distinguished Professor. “Both his students and his faculty colleagues were enthusiastic in their praise of Dr. Mumper’s commitment to the highest standards of … Read more
Lai Receives Development Award to Study PEG Immunity
January 30, 2013Sam Lai, PhD, has received a $7,500 UNC Junior Faculty Development Award from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to study the prevalence and properties of preexisting immunity in humans to PEGylated drugs, which could potentially diminishes the efficacy of many PEGylated nanomedicines and therapeutics. PEGylated therapeutics are obtained by modifying drug molecules with polyethylene glycol, or PEG, which markedly reduces interactions with blood proteins and helps the drugs remain active in the bloodstream for longer. However, animal studies suggest that the immune system can develop antibodies against PEG, which can neutralize the polymer’s stealth properties. Preexisting immunity … Read more
UNC Nanomedicine Researchers Uncover High Potential for Low-Frequency Magnetic Fields
November 16, 2012A team of researchers led by scientists at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy has discovered effects of low-frequency magnetic fields that might pave the way for new approaches to designing remote-control nanomedicines. In a paper published online October 18 in the journal Angewandte Chemie, the researchers describe an experiment in which they attached an enzyme to magnetic nanoparticles, exposed them to nonheating, low-frequency magnetic fields, and observed the resulting changes in the enzymes’ structure, conformation, and catalytic activity, which were different from changes induced by heating up the nanoparticles. The results demonstrated for the first time magneto-mechanical effects triggered … Read more