Category: General
Hickey Awarded Mercer Prize for Work with Aerosol Drug-Delivery Systems
July 26, 2017Professor Emeritus Anthony Hickey, Ph.D., an expert in aerosol and nanomaterials engineering at RTI International, received the Thomas T. Mercer Joint Prize from the American Association for Aerosol Research and International Society for Aerosols in Medicine. The award recognizes Hickey for his achievements and groundbreaking research in the field of inhalable materials and pharmaceutical aerosols, including drugs and vaccines delivered by inhalers. His work has paved the way for new methods of treatment and prevention of asthma, cystic fibrosis, diabetes, tuberculosis and more. Hickey is a professor emeritus in the School’s Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics and an adjunct … Read more
DPET Grad Student Srinivas Wins International Prize for HIV Research
July 26, 2017Nithya Srinivas, a graduate student at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, is the recipient of the IAS/ANRS Lange-van Tongeren Prize for Young Investigators in the clinical sciences track from the International AIDS Society and the France Recherche Nord & Sud Sida-HIV Hépatites. Srinivas is a fourth-year student in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. She is a member of the UNC Graduate School’s Royster Society of Fellows. Her adviser is Angela Kashuba, Pharm.D., DPET chair and the John and Deborah McNeill, Jr. Distinguished Professor at the School. The four Lange-van Tongeren Prizes are $2,000 awards that support young … Read more
Sleath Receives $1.6 Million AHRQ Grant to Help African-Americans with Glaucoma
July 11, 2017Betsy Sleath, Ph.D., has received a grant worth nearly $1.6 million over four years from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to help reduce vision problems in African-Americans caused by glaucoma. Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness for African-Americans; they are five times more likely to get glaucoma than white Americans and six times more likely to go blind from it. Glaucoma is a condition that can damage the optic nerve leading to loss of vision. It is caused by abnormally high pressure inside the eye. “We want to empower glaucoma patients to be more actively involved … Read more
Wagoner Joins Eshelman Institute to Encourage Commercialization
July 10, 2017Former health-care executive Kay Wagoner, Ph.D., has joined the Eshelman Institute for Innovation as associate director for innovation and entrepreneurship. Wagoner is also life science executive in residence in the UNC-Chapel Hill Office of Commercialization and Economic Development, an EIR for the Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network and an adjunct associate professor in the UNC Medical School’s Department of Cell Biology and Physiology. Working with the leadership team of the EII, Wagoner will assist in developing strategies for evaluating, funding and supporting cutting edge innovations, which may lead to processes and technologies that substantially benefit health care for patients around the world. … Read more
PharmAlliance Inspires Student Researchers from Abroad
July 6, 2017Faculty at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy hosted four students from University College London School of Pharmacy as part of the international PharmAlliance partnership. All final-year pharmacy students at UCL are required to complete three months of research. PharmAlliance allowed students, some of whom had never completed lab research before, to travel abroad and research at the School. Evangeline Chai, Andy Chan, Mohamed Mansour and Ella Pattison-Sharp spent November 2016 to February 2017 in North Carolina working under the direction of School faculty. Host professors included Sam Lai, Ph.D., associate professor and director of the pharmacoengineering program; Stefanie Ferreri, … Read more
Postdoc Elizabeth Wayne Reflects on TED Experience
June 28, 2017Elizabeth Wayne, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow studying how immune cells can be used to fight cancer, gave a TED talk on the main stage at TED 2017 in Vancouver, Canada. Wayne was announced as a TED fellow in January 2017. Wayne’s research focuses on targeted cancer therapy, attaching cancer-fighting genes to immune cells that are already being delivered by the body’s immune system to cancerous tumors. The idea, Wayne said, is to only treat the cancer itself rather than using treatments like chemotherapy, which cannot discriminate between damaging good cells and cancer cells. Of the weeklong event, the talk itself … Read more
E(I) Lab Names Winners in Second Annual Innovation Competition
June 26, 2017The E(I) Lab Program, a competition launched by the UNC Eshelman Institute for Innovation that encourages entrepreneurship and innovation among multidisciplinary teams of UNC graduate and professional student, wrapped up its second cohort on April 29. The winning team received a prize of $3,000 for developing a device for generating reproducible skin pricks for allergy testing. The current method of generating skin pricks suffers from too much variation, leading to incorrect diagnosis and the need for further testing. The team included Steven Doerstling, a recent graduate of the nutrition program in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health; Lindsay … Read more
Musgrove Receives Outstanding Employee Forum Delegate Award
June 20, 2017Katie Musgrove, executive associate for Kenan Distinguished Professor Kuo-Hsiung Lee, Ph.D., and the Natural Products Research Laboratories, was given the Kay Wijnberg Hovious Outstanding Employee Forum Delegate Award on June 14 after being nominated by her fellow delegates. The award recognizes the work of outstanding forum delegates who go above and beyond the call of duty when performing work on behalf of the forum. There are three winners each year, who are voted on by the other delegates. Ricky Roach, energy utilities technician at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and forum delegate, nominated Musgrove for the award. … Read more
Genetic Alliance CEO Details Shortcomings of Medical Research Infrastructure in TEDMED Talk
June 15, 2017Biomedical research is hamstrung by a lack of collaboration and data-sharing and research participants and their families must become “citizen scientists” to revolutionize the system, said Sharon Terry, president and CEO of the Genetic Alliance in a newly-released TEDMED talk that sheds new light on the organizations developing new treatments for disease. The Genetic Alliance is a strategic partner of UNC Catalyst. In Terry’s talk, she tells the story of discovering in 1994 that her two children were both affected by pseudoxanthoma elasticum, a rare genetic disorder that causes the symptoms of premature aging. After being contacted by different research … Read more
Young Innovators Program Welcomes Second Intern Class
June 15, 2017On June 19, 24 students from 19 North Carolina high schools will begin the second Young Innovators Program led by researchers from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. The program, sponsored by the Eshelman Institute for Innovation, offers students a chance to experience mentored, hands-on laboratory research and professional engagement at the earliest stages of their careers. The program is unique for several reasons. According to Mary Roth McClurg, Pharm.D., M.H.S., associate professor at the School and associate director of the Eshelman Institute, professional schools are well positioned to facilitate pre-college science, technology, engineering and math experiences for students. Still, … Read more