Category: Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics
Blouin Receives NCAP Blanton Award for Pharmacy Contributions
November 25, 2015Bob Blouin, Pharm.D., the Vaughn and Nancy Bryson Distinguished Professor and dean of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina and the director of the Eshelman Institute for Innovation, has been awarded the 2015 Don Blanton Award by the North Carolina Association of Pharmacists. The Blanton award recognizes the pharmacist who has contributed most to the advancement of pharmacy in North Carolina during the past year. Since becoming the dean in July of 2003, the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy has undertaken a number of innovative initiatives and seen significant growth. Stephen Eckel, Pharm.D., the … Read more
Bacteria in Residence May Improve Women’s Defense against HIV Infection
October 8, 2015Specific microbes appear to strengthen a woman’s natural physical barriers against sexually transmitted infections like HIV, according to researchers at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The mucus lining of the cervix and vagina is a woman’s first line of defense against sexually transmitted infections. A research team led by Sam Lai, Ph.D., senior author of the study and an assistant professor at the pharmacy school, has shown that the amount of protection offered may depend on the type of helpful bacteria present in the mucus. “We set out to understand … Read more
NIH Funds CNDD Proposal to Develop New Stroke Treatment
October 7, 2015Researchers in the Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy have received a translational NIH grant worth $783,000 over two years to develop a way to deliver to the brain a protein capable of repairing some of the damage caused by stroke. The grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke will fund the CNDD’s efforts to design a new nanoparticle delivery system capable of transporting a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor to the brain and central nervous system. BDNF is a protein that supports the survival of and growth of certain … Read more
UNC Researchers Awarded $11.3 Million for Cancer Nanotechnology Research
September 14, 2015University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers received an $11.3 million, five-year grant to conduct multiple studies exploring the use of nanoparticles to create cancer vaccines and improve cancer drug delivery and responses. The grant is the third in a series of awards that the university has received from the National Cancer Institute for cancer nanotechnology research. It will fund work by researchers with the Carolina Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence, an NCI-funded collaboration between UNC-Chapel Hill and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. “UNC-Chapel Hill has emerged as a leader in nanotechnology in the last 10 years,” said … Read more
Four MOPH Graduate Students Receive NIH and NSF Fellowships
September 10, 2015Four graduate students in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics have been awarded fellowships by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Karen Bulaklak received an NIH F31 Fellowship from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. Carla Coste Sanchez, Christina Parker and Tojan Rahhal have all been awarded fellowships from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. “Securing an external fellowship of any kind is a tremendous accomplishment as they are very competitive in nature and bring prestige to the student researcher, their faculty and the School,” says … Read more
Smart Cells Teach Neurons Damaged by Parkinson’s to Heal Themselves
September 8, 2015As a potential treatment for Parkinson’s disease, scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have created smarter immune cells that produce and deliver a neuron-healing protein to the brain while also teaching nerve cells to begin making the protein for themselves. Associate Professor Elena Batrakova, Ph.D., and her team at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery genetically modified white blood cells called macrophages to produce glial cell–derived neurotrophic factor, or GDNF, and deliver it to the brain. Glial cells provide support and protection for nerve cells throughout the brain and body, … Read more
$2.4 Million NIH Grant to Support Study of Tumor Penetration by Nanogel
August 10, 2015UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy nanomedicine researchers received a five-year grant to study whether the properties of certain nanomaterials would improve the delivery of cancer treatments to their tumor targets. The $2.42 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health will fund a collaborative research effort between scientists at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy as well as at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The researchers plan to study whether the use of a drug-carrying nanoparticle material they’ve designed called the core-shell nanogel can better penetrate tumors. “The whole idea of this … Read more
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
Jay Named Executive Vice Dean to Oversee Academics at School
May 14, 2015Michael Jay, PhD, has been named executive vice dean at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Jay will serve as the School’s chief academic officer. Jay is a Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor in the Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics at the School and has been the division’s chair since 2012. Eshelman Professor Leaf Huang, PhD, who previously chaired the division from 2005 to 2012, will serve as interim chair of MOPH while the School searches for a permanent replacement for Jay. Jay joined the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in 2008 after … 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