Category: Centers
School Receives T32 Grant for Training Program in Cancer Nanotechnology
July 13, 2015A federal grant awarded to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will help grow the workforce of scientists and doctors working in cancer nanotechnology through the launch of a new postdoctoral training program. The University has received a $1.8 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to create a postdoctoral training program within the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery researchers. The program will be run in collaboration with the Carolina Institute for Nanomedicine, the Carolina Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. The award, a … Read more
UNC Team Uses Cellular Bubbles to Deliver Parkinson’s Meds Directly to Brain
May 4, 2015Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have used exosomes — tiny bubbles of protein and fat produced naturally by cells — to bypass the body’s defenses and deliver a potent biopharmaceutical directly to the brain to treat Parkinson’s disease. Elena Batrakova, PhD, and her colleagues at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery extracted exosomes from immune cells and successfully loaded them with the enzyme catalase, a potent antioxidant that counters the neuron-killing inflammation responsible for Parkinson’s and other degenerative neurological disorders. Their work was published in the Journal of Controlled … Read more
School Launches Center for Medication Optimization through Practice and Policy
April 20, 2015The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy is creating the Center for Medication Optimization through Practice and Policy to improve the safety and effectiveness of medication use through innovative models of practice and health policy. Joel Farley, PhD, an associate professor in the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy, will serve as interim director of the new center. “We see a big opportunity to improve the use of medications in the U.S.,” Farley says. “There is consistent evidence that less than half of patients on chronic medications adhere to their treatment regimens. These patients are at higher risk for adverse drug … Read more
Associate Professor Federico Innocenti Granted Tenure
January 20, 2015Federico Innocenti, MD, PHD, an associate professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been granted tenure. He is associate director of the School’s Center for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy. Genes and Cancer Innocenti’s NIH-funded research program focuses on the search for genetic variations in patients that determine the efficacy and toxicity of cancer therapy. One of Innocenti’s notable research achievements is the discovery of the genetic basis for the neutropenia — or severe shortage of certain white blood cells — experienced by some patients being treated with the cancer … Read more
New Algorithm Increases Success Rate of Drug-Compound Screening
December 15, 2014Scientists developing new drugs increasingly turn to massive online catalogs of prospective compounds to test. The trouble is that very few those chemical contenders even have the potential to be useful because of inaccuracies in the computerized screening process that identified them. Researchers at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy have created SPLIF, a new, freely shared algorithm that greatly improves the chances of finding a chemical compound that actively connects with a disease target. Swing and a Miss The discovery of new medicines usually starts by screening a large collection of chemical compounds against a specific protein target that … Read more
Video: Drug Discovery Center Draws on UNC Bench Science
November 3, 2014UNC News Services and the University Gazette interviewed School faculty member Stephen Frye, PhD, about the work being done at the Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery in Marsico Hall. Read the Gazette article here. https://youtu.be/TPJHY67rGXc
Eshelman Gives $3 Million to School’s Drug-Discovery Center
September 3, 2014The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy has received a $3 million gift from philanthropist and pharmaceutical-industry executive Fred Eshelman. Eshelman’s gift will support the work of the School’s Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery. The center is dedicated to evaluating and developing potential drug targets discovered by UNC faculty. The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy is one of the nation’s top pharmacy schools. It ranks second in total research funding and has the number-two doctor of pharmacy program in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report. The CICBDD Researchers at UNC often discover interesting biological systems … Read more
Innocenti Receives R21 Grant to Personalize Angiogenesis Inhibitors to Individual Cancer Patients
August 20, 2014Federico Innocenti receives a $275,000 NCI grant to study the role a cancer patient’s genetic makeup plays in the effectiveness of angiogenesis inhibitors. Angiogenesis inhibitors stop or slow the spread of tumors by choking off the blood supply that feeds them. Angiogenesis inhibitors are a class of drugs commonly used in cancer therapy. However, there isn’t a way to identify patients who will benefit the most from treatment with these drugs. A new $275,000 grant could help Associate Professor Federico Innocenti, MD, PhD, and his team identify such patients based on their genetic profile. Angiogenesis is the formation of new … Read more
Two Professors Included in Highly Cited Researchers List
June 6, 2014Thomson Reuters’s 2014 Highly Cited Researchers list includes two UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy professors. Alexander “Sasha” Kabanov, PhD, and Elena Batrakova, PhD, are among the top one percent cited in their subject field. Kabanov and Batrakova are members of the School’s Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery. Two UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy professors are the most often-cited scientists in the world, according to the Thomson Reuters 2014 Highly Cited Researchers list. Alexander “Sasha” Kabanov, PhD, and Elena Batrakova, PhD, are among eighteen UNC professors to be included in this year’s group, which comprises researchers who are in the top … Read more
New UNC Research Building Dedicated
March 27, 2014Many of UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s research programs have a new, state-of-the-art home as the University dedicated Marsico Hall, the newest building—and one of the largest—on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus on Thursday, March 27. Formerly called the IRB building or the BRIC building, Marsico Hall will house basic and translational research across several disciplines and will feature cutting-edge imaging equipment that will fundamentally advance knowledge of cancer and many other complex diseases. More than two dozen pharmacy faculty members are setting up laboratories in Marsico Hall to take advantage of its capabilities and the opportunities for collaboration with their colleagues … Read more