Chester Costales

email: chet@email.unc.edu

Background and Research Interests 

Originally from the Philippines, Chester grew up as a member of a military family making stops in Key West, FL, Jacksonville, NC, and finally settling in Bremerton, WA.  He moved to Seattle in 1997 and attended the University of Washington where he got his first exposure to the research environment, spending time in both Pharmacology and Biological Structure labs.  He graduated in 2001, leaving with a BS degree in Biochemistry and Cell & Molecular Biology (double major), a minor in Chemistry, and four zebrafish (wt).  After college, Chester went on to work as a Research Associate in Redmond, WA for Cerep, Inc., a contract research organization offering preclinical drug discovery services.  As a member of various groups over the course of five years, Chester conducted high-throughput in vitro absorption, metabolism, and toxicity studies.  In 2007, he joined Dr. Thakker's group and the Molecular Pharmaceutics Division at UNC-Chapel Hill.  Outside of school, Chester enjoys exploring North Carolina with his wife and two boys.

Tianxiang (Kevin) Han

email: hant@email.unc.edu

Background and Research Interests

Kevin was born and raised in the city of Shenyang in Northeast China with an excellent performance in studies and extracurricular activities. He went to the best university in China, Peking
University, for his undergraduate study. After graduation with his Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy, he started his research career in the State Key Laboratory in Natural and Miminic Drugs at Peking University.  His research project was about the synthesis and biological evaluation of a novel class of seven- and eight-membered
ring carbon-nucleoside analogs.  With several publications for his first scientific effort, he got his Master of Science degree in Medicinal Chemistry, as well as his enthusiasm and motivation in research. In 2008, he joined the PhD program in Pharmaceutical Sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill.

His current research project is to study the mechanisms underlying metformin's intestinal absorption and adverse effects.  Previous studies have demostrated that transporter proteins such as OCT1 and PMAT are responsible in the apical uptake of metformin in Caco-2 cells.  However, another unknown transporter may be involved in this process.  Therefore, current project is to search for the unknown transporter and reveal the mechanism of the absorption of metformin.  One of the target transporter protein is Serotonin Reuptake Transporter (SERT).  His current work is to use in vitro cell culture model, ex vivo intestine tissue model, and in vivo portal vein cannulation mouse model to study the role of SERT in the intesinal absorption and adverse effects of metformin.

Nicole Zane, PharmD

email: nrzane@unc.edu

Background and Research Interests

Nicole graduated from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington with a B.S. in Biology and a minor in French. She then attended the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy where she graduated with her PharmD. Deciding that research was her passion, Nicole applied and accepted her position at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in the Thakker lab in 2010.  Nicole's current project is defining voriconazole metabolism in the pediatric population.

Voriconazole, a broad spectrum antifungal used for life-threatening fungal infections, is cleared predominantly by CYP3A4, CYP2C19, and flavin-containing monooxygenases. Voriconazole has approximately 3-fold higher clearance in children compared to adults. CYP2C19 genetic variations are known to affect voriconazole’s clearance in adults. However, pediatric pharmacokinetic differences based on CYP2C19 genetic variations have not been definitively established. This study aims to determine if pediatric liver microsomes from CYP2C19-poor metabolizers would metabolize voriconazole at lower rates than those with normal CYP2C19 activity despite equivalent CYP3A4 activity.