Category: Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry
School Scientists Teach Enzyme to Make Synthetic Heparin in More Varieties
November 24, 2008Scientists at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy have learned to customize a key human enzyme responsible for producing heparin, opening the door to a more effective synthetic anticoagulant as well as treatments for other conditions. Jian Liu, PhD, and colleagues have learned to modify the enzyme heparan sulfate 2-O-sulfotransferase, which produces heparin in the human body in addition to other heparin-like molecules. By modifying 2-O-sulfotransferase, researchers will be able to create customized forms of synthetic heparin with different properties. “Previously it was nearly impossible to change the nature of the heparin generated by the enzyme,” says Liu, an associate … Read more
Zhang Receives Amgen Fellowship
November 7, 2008The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy has awarded its 2008-09 Amgen Fellowship to Liying Zhang, a graduate student in the Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products. Zhang, who is in division chair Alex Tropsha’s lab, will receive a $22,500 stipend, health insurance, tuition, and travel allowance for presentation of results. She plans to use the fellowship to conduct chemical informatics studies on drug disposition data. Zhang entered the School’s graduate program in 2006 after earning her bachelor’s degree in biotechnology from Fudan University in Shanghai, China. The fellowship selection was made by the School’s Graduate Education Committee, which evaluated … Read more
K.H. Lee Receives ASP Research Achievement Award
October 20, 2008K. H. Lee, PhD, the Kenan Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, has been named the recipient of the 2009 Norman R. Farnsworth Research Achievement Award from the American Society of Pharmacognosy. Lee was chosen from a pool of highly qualified candidates for his career accomplishments and his many contributions to the field of natural products. He will make an award address on June 30, 2009, during the 50th Annual Meeting of the ASP in Honolulu, Hawaii. “Few researchers can match what Dr. Lee has done over the course of his long and distinguished career,” … Read more
Zhang Receives $125K Grant from Pardee Foundation
September 15, 2008Qisheng Zhang, an assistant professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, has received a one-year, $125,000 grant from the Elsa U. Pardee Foundation for a research project aimed at finding novel candidates for breast cancer treatments. Zhang, a member of the School’s Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products, will use the grant to develop small molecule ASAP1 inhibitors. ASAP1 is one member of the GTPase-activating proteins of ADP-ribosylation factors, which regulate a number of biological processes in mammals. Increased amount of ASAP1 has been found in breast cancer cells, making this protein a potential novel target for cancer … Read more
Jarstfer Receives Two Grants Totalling $750K
August 14, 2008Mike Jarstfer, PhD, an associate professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, has received two grants. One of the grants, “The Structure of Telomerase RNA Attending Catalysis”, is from the National Science Foundation. It is worth $556,000 for three years and will support Jarstfer’s study of telomerase structure. The other grant, on which Jarstfer is the coprincipal investigator, is from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. The project is titled “Development of Non-Peptide Human Oxytocin Receptor Agonist and Potentiator Drugs” and aims to discover new therapeutics for treating diseases characterized by social deficits, such as autism. The grant provides $215,863 … Read more
Graduate Student in Jarstfer Lab Receives NIH Fellowship
August 5, 2008Daud Cole, a graduate student in Associate Professor Mike Jarstfer’s lab at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, has received a predoctoral fellowship from the National Institutes of Health. The fellowship is worth $27,481 per year for five years. Cole’s research project, titled “The structure of telomerase RNA during catalysis”, studies the structure of telomerase, an enzyme that plays a key role in cell division and aging. Cole is a 2005 graduate of North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology. He is pursuing his PhD in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics … Read more
Sassano Receives GSK Fellowship
August 5, 2008Flori Sassano, a graduate student in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, will receive the GlaxoSmithKline Fellowship for the 2008-09 academic year. The GSK Fellowship is awarded annually to a full-time graduate student in the pharmaceutical sciences. The fellowship covers tuition for the year and provides a $22,500 stipend. The nomination for the fellowship is made by the School’s Graduate Student Organization and endorsed by the Graduate Education Committee. The nominee is selected based on outstanding contributions to the graduate program, the GSO, and the local area scientific community. Sassano is the GSO student representative for the Division of Medicinal … Read more
Mary Carroll Receives ACS, AFPE Fellowships
July 11, 2008Mary Carroll, a graduate student at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, has received two fellowships for the 2008-09 academic year. The American Chemical Society Division of Medicinal Chemistry Fellowship selection committee named Carroll its Pfizer Fellow. The fellowship, a nationally competitive award, provides a one-year stipend of $24,000. Carroll will be invited to give a presentation on her research at the fall 2009 national meeting in Washington, D.C., as part of a symposium honoring her and the other fellows. She will receive a plaque and $1,000 to help cover travel and meeting expenses. Carroll also has been awarded a … Read more
Upstream Biosciences Appoints Tropsha to Scientific Advisory Board
June 27, 2008Upstream Biosciences Inc. has appointed Alexander Tropsha, PhD, of the University of North Carolina, chair of the School’s Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products, to the company’s Scientific Advisory Board. Tropsha one of the world’s leading chemoinformatics experts. Chemoinformatics combines chemistry and computer science to accelerate the speed and reduce the cost of discovering drugs to treat disease. Joel L. Bellenson, chief executive officer of Upstream, said Dr. Tropsha brings invaluable knowledge and validation to the company’s drug discovery and drug development programs. “Dr. Tropsha is widely considered to be the leading authority in the world at applying chemoinformatics … Read more
Laura Bonifacio Earns AFAR-GSK Fellowship
June 14, 2008Laura Bonifacio, PharmD, a third-year graduate student at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, has received an American Foundation for Aging Research-GlaxoSmithKline Fellowship for the 2008-09 academic year. The award is worth $2,000 and is potentially renewable. It will fund Bonifacio’s research project, which is involved in discovering the physiological mechanisms of aging. “Aging is interesting and poorly understood,” Bonifacio says. “We are looking for new cellular agents that are involved in controlling the aging process or that are controlled by the aging process. This will allow a richer understanding of aging and lead to new ways to control it … Read more