Category: News
First month-long PharmAlliance virtual meeting tops 800 global participants
November 2, 2020Every year since 2015, three of the world’s leading schools of pharmacy have come together for an annual meeting of the minds to partner for better healthcare worldwide. The trio, known as PharmAlliance, is comprised of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Monash University in Melbourne, Australia and University College London in London, UK. When COVID-19 interrupted plans for the annual PharmAlliance Week meeting, the partnership adapted and shifted online to host PharmAlliance Month 2020. PharmAlliance Month 2020, held Sept. 28-Oct. 28, featured 16 sessions and seminars meant to facilitate the spread of ideas, explore areas of synergy, and … Read more
Meet Matthew Loop, new faculty member in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics
October 30, 2020The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics (DPET) welcomes new Assistant Professor, Matthew Loop, Ph.D., FAHA. Matthew joined the team on Aug. 1 and comes from UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, where he was an assistant professor in the Department of Biostatistics for four years. At the School of Pharmacy, he will be teaching Quantitative Methods in Clinical Research within the DPET Ph.D. program, collaborating with fellow faculty, students, and fellows on projects within the Partnership in Patient Care, and driving forward his own new research program on precision treatment and outcomes of … Read more
School of Pharmacy, School of Medicine work together to combat cystic fibrosis
October 26, 2020More than 30,000 people in the United States are living with cystic fibrosis and an estimated 1,000 new cases are diagnosed each year, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Patient Registry. Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease that affects glands in all body systems and can lead to recurrent and chronic bacterial infections of the lungs, or premature death. That’s why Gauri Rao, Pharm.D., M.S., with the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and Marianne Muhlebach, MD, with UNC’s Department of Pediatrics are joining forces with their respective expertise to find better ways to treat those chronic infections. The research … Read more
Ph.D. student earns Ministry of Education of Taiwan fellowship to further studies, research
October 23, 2020Ph.D. student Yien Liao recently earned the Ministry of Education of Taiwan’s Government Scholarship to Study Abroad (GSSA) to further her studies and research at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. The $32,000 fellowship will provide two years of support of Liao’s thesis which explores glycoscience, specifically in synthetic oligosaccharide (carbohydrate) applications in sepsis and liver/kidney ischemia-reperfusion. Liao studies in the School’s Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry in the lab of Jian Liu, Ph.D. “Searching for new carbohydrate-based molecules to control dysregulated inflammatory responses will be a crucial step for the treatment of many diseases,” Liu said. “The … Read more
Researchers reveal safeguarding of a key DNA sensor in the innate immune system
October 21, 2020UNC-Chapel Hill researchers have, for the first time, determined the high-resolution structure of a key DNA-sensing protein in the innate immune system called cGAS while it is bound to the nucleosome – the all-important unit of DNA packaging inside a cell’s nucleus. This research, published in Science, reveals in detail how the nucleosomes inside our cells block cGAS from unintentionally triggering the body’s innate immune response to our own DNA. The work was led by Qi Zhang, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the UNC School of Medicine, and Robert McGinty, MD, PhD, assistant professor of chemical biology … Read more
PhD candidate earns National Cancer Institute Award to further cancer research
October 14, 2020Cathy Anderson, a Ph.D. candidate at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, has been awarded the NCI Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Fellow Transition Award. The National Cancer Institute award will provide funding for the remainder of Anderson’s graduate studies and up to four years of post-doctoral training. Anderson works in the lab of Robert McGinty, MD, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy with a joint appointment in the UNC Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics. “I feel very grateful to receive this fellowship, and to have been nominated by … Read more
Heinzen awarded two grants totaling $7 million to identify, study genetic variants that cause epilepsy
October 9, 2020Erin Heinzen, Pharm.D., Ph.D. recently received two collaborative R01 grants totaling $7 million from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to identify and study epilepsy-causing genetic variants that arise during brain development. One grant focuses on identifying genetic variants that are responsible for seizures by studying the brain tissue of individuals with epilepsy who undergo surgery to treat persistent seizures. “As a first priority we seek to identify the causes of seizures in children and adults who suffer from seizures that do not stop with any available medication. Once we know the cause we can then study what the … Read more
PharmD student to serve as president-elect of Student National Pharmaceutical Association
October 7, 2020Third year UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy student Aliyah Cruz said she aims to foster health equity and limit the gaps that promote health disparities. On the path to doing so, Cruz will serve as the 2021-22 president-elect of the Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA), where she hopes to inspire other students to spark positive change in their local communities. “It is an amazing honor to be elected into the role of SNPhA national president-elect by my peers across the country,” Cruz said. Promoting positive change SNPhA is an educational service association of pharmacy students focused on pharmacy, health care … Read more
Carolina Nanoformulation Workshop, Nanomedicine Drug Delivery Symposium tops 800 virtual participants, largest turnout in 18 years
September 28, 2020The Carolina Nanoformulation Workshop and the Nanomedicine Drug Delivery Symposium (NanoDDS) combined to host the 2020 Virtual Carolina Nanoformulation Workshop & Nanomedicine Drug Delivery Symposium on September 14-16, 2020. BUILDING ON AN 18-YEAR LEGACY The one-day virtual NanoDDS symposium welcomed more than 800 registered participants, the largest turnout in the past 18 years, said Alexander “Sasha” Kabanov, director of the UNC Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery, which supported the event. Nearly 400 people in various time zones across the world attended NanoDDS live. Other registrants who could not attend because of time differences of the live meeting will receive … Read more
Sanders selected as fellow for Duke-Johnson & Johnson Nurse Leadership Program
September 23, 2020Kimberly Sanders, Pharm.D., BCPS of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy has been selected as a fellow for the Duke-Johnson & Johnson Nurse Leadership Program. The Duke-Johnson & Johnson Nurse Leadership Program, a 10-month experience, is a partnership between Duke University School of Medicine, Duke University School of Nursing and Johnson & Johnson. The program provides leadership development for advanced practice nurses and their team partners to develop and launch transformational health improvement initiatives within their organizations and communities. Selected fellows start the program in August 2020 and will participate in virtual leadership retreats, web conferences, project mentoring circles, individual … Read more