Category: Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry
Pharmacy’s Robert McGinty Named 2017 Searle Scholar
March 31, 2017Robert McGinty, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, has been selected as a 2017 Searle Scholar. He is the first Searle Scholar named at the University of North Carolina in the past 10 years. The Searle Scholars Program named 15 scientists as Searle Scholars for 2017. Recipients are awarded $300,000 in flexible funding to support their work over the next three years. The Searle Scholars Program makes grants to selected universities and research centers to support the independent research of exceptional young faculty in the … Read more
Kohn Named Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors
January 6, 2017Harold “Hal” Kohn, Ph.D., professor emeritus of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy has been named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. The NAI Fellows Selection Committee chooses candidates who have demonstrated “a highly prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society.” One of Kohn’s most significant achievements is the development of a treatment for certain epilepsy patients that received Food and Drug Administration approval in 2008. Lacosamide, a first-in-class antiepileptic drug with the brand name Vimpat, is prescribed … Read more
UNC Catalyst Initiative Aims to Create and Share Tools to Fight Rare Diseases
January 4, 2017Freely giving researchers the tools and knowledge to tackle rare and orphaned diseases is the mission of UNC Catalyst, a new endeavor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill launched with a $2 million grant from the Eshelman Institute for Innovation. UNC Catalyst will provide patient groups and rare-disease organizations with the knowledge and research tools to train scientists to create new treatments. “Science has cracked the human genome, but translating that knowledge into new medicines has been painfully slow,” said Bob Blouin, director of the Eshelman institute and dean of the Eshelman School of Pharmacy. “This is … Read more
School Researchers Use Light to Launch Drugs from Red Blood Cells
January 3, 2017Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed a breakthrough technique that uses light to activate a drug stored in circulating red blood cells so that it is released exactly when and where it is needed. The work, led by Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor David Lawrence in the Eshelman School of Pharmacy, has profound implications for the field of drug delivery by using red blood cells to carry drugs and then using light to release them in precise locations. The technique, which overcomes a decades-long scientific hurdle, could drastically reduce the amount of a drug needed … Read more
Professor Emeritus George Cocolas Dies, Served School More than 40 Years
December 21, 2016Professor Emeritus George Cocolas, Ph.D., a member of the School’s faculty for more than 40 years, died Monday, Dec. 19, after a brief illness. His funeral will be held Friday, Dec. 23, at 11 a.m. at St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church in Durham. Cocolas joined the faculty of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in 1958 and retired in 1999. During his long tenure at the School, Cocolas was chair of the Division of Medicinal Chemistry from 1975 to 1982 and served as associate dean for 17 years. He also chaired the School’s admissions committee. He may be best known … Read more
UNC Scientists Devise More Accurate System for Predicting Risks of New Chemical Products
November 10, 2016The approach used by regulators to initially screen new chemical products for toxic effects is wrong almost half the time, according to scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They have proposed an improvement that could increase accuracy to as much as 85 percent, saving millions of dollars and years of development time for new drugs and other products while improving safety. Regulatory agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, that are charged with evaluating new drugs and other chemical products rely on an initial screening of the product’s molecular structure. … Read more
NCI Renews Partnership with UNC to Seek New Cancer Drugs
October 6, 2016The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will pursue treatments for specific cancer targets as a specialized member of the National Cancer Institute’s renewed Experimental Therapeutics, or NExT, program through a contract with Leidos Biomed and its Frederick National Lab in Frederick, Maryland. Because of its unique expertise, UNC has been designated a specialized center in the NCI’s Chemical Biology Consortium, the NExT program’s discovery engine. The university’s team is led by Stephen Frye, Ph.D., Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and director of the school’s Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery. … Read more
Rob McGinty Joins CBMC as Assistant Professor
August 3, 2016Rob McGinty, M.D., Ph.D., has joined the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy as an assistant professor in the Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry. He also has a joint appointment in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics. McGinty’s principal research interests surround structural biology and biochemistry, specifically chromatin regulation. The human genome is organized in cells in the form of chromatin by wrapping around tiny spools of proteins. Each protein spool wrapped by DNA is called a nucleosome and is the smallest unit of chromatin. Prior to coming to UNC, McGinty was a Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellow in the … Read more
Students Select 2016 Best Instructors, Anksorus Tops Overall
May 16, 2016The Doctor of Pharmacy classes at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy selected their favorite instructors for this past year. The winners were presented with an instructor of the year award at the 2016 annual Awards Ceremony held April 24. The overall and the PY3 instructor of the year is Heidi Anksorus, Pharm.D. The PY2 instructor of the year is Robert Shrewsbury, Ph.D. The PY1 instructor of the year is Michael Jarstfer, Ph.D. The experiential faculty member of the year is Josh Guffey, Pharm.D. Heidi Anksorus Anksorus is a clinical assistant professor in the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical … Read more
CBMC Grad Student O’Banion Wins ASBMB Poster Award
May 9, 2016Colin O’Banion, a Ph.D. student in the lab of David Lawrence, Ph.D., at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, was awarded the best poster award in the area of cell signaling, kinase and chemotherapy by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. O’Banion’s poster was selected by the Program Planning Committee at the recent ASBMB meeting in San Diego, California. His presentation, “An Optogenetic Toolkit for Spatial and Temporal Control of the cAMP Dependent Protein Kinase,” was also selected for an ASBMB oral presentation. Originally from Rochester, New York, O’Banion studied neuroscience at the University of Rochester. He then … Read more