Category: Research
UNC Proofs Inhaled TB Vaccine
March 22, 2008A new tuberculosis vaccine successfully tested at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is easier to administer and store and just as effective as one commonly used worldwide. Scientists at the UNC School of Pharmacy led by Tony Hickey, PhD, vetted a dry-powder vaccine provided by Harvard University that is administered by inhaling a dry powder. The results of the vaccine test were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “It is at least as good as the injectable vaccine,” said Hickey, a professor in the Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics. “The real advantage is that … Read more
School Rises to Sixth in NIH Funding
March 1, 2008The UNC School of Pharmacy climbed to sixth among the nation’s pharmacy schools in funding received from the National Institutes of Health in fiscal year 2007, up two spots from last year, according to numbers compiled by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. The School’s researchers were awarded more than $9.1 million in the past year, $900,000 more than the 2006 total of nearly $8.2 million. The School ranked eighth in NIH funding last year. This is the seventh year in a row that the School has advanced in the rankings. The School also ranked second in funding received … Read more
AHEC Faculty Receives Fellowship to Study Virtual Patient Approach
February 21, 2008Peter Koval, PharmD, a clinical assistant professor at the UNC School of Pharmacy, has been selected as a John Payne Fellow. The fellowship comes with a $2,000 stipend for Koval’s project: studying the use of virtual patients in training pharmacy students. Koval, a clinical pharmacist at Moses Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro, is the assistant director of pharmacy research, pharmacotherapy, and education at the Greensboro Area Health Education Center. He is planning to use his fellowship to learn how the School of Pharmacy at Keele University in the United Kingdom uses robotic avatars and voice-recognition software to create virtual patients … Read more
Sleath Study: Doctors Should Watch for Depression in Arthritis Patients
February 1, 2008Patients with rheumatoid arthritis, the most common chronic inflammatory arthritis, are twice as likely as individuals without rheumatoid arthritis to experience depression but aren’t likely to talk to a doctor about it, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In a study published in the February issue of Arthritis Care & Research, researchers found that patients whose activities were more restricted due to their arthritis were more than twice as likely to have moderately severe to severe symptoms of depression. They also found that not many depressed patients discussed their condition with their rheumatologists, and, … Read more
Eshelman Pledge Pushes Carolina First Total to $2.3 Billion
January 24, 2008University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser today announced that the Carolina First Campaign raised $2.38 billion to finish as the fifth largest completed campaign in higher education and the largest completed fund-raising drive at a university in the South. A $9 million pledge to the UNC School of Pharmacy from Fred Eshelman of Wilmington pushed the campaign to that historic mark. The board of North Carolina’s University Cancer Research Fund matched the pledge, generating a total investment of $18 million. The funds will support cancer research by the School of Pharmacy and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive … Read more
Eshelman, UCRF Give School $18 million for Cancer Research
January 24, 2008Fred Eshelman, CEO and founder of Wilmington-based PPD Inc., has pledged $9 million to support cancer research at the School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The board of North Carolina’s University Cancer Research Fund matched the gift, generating a total investment of $18 million. The funds will support the work of members of the School of Pharmacy and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center who focus on genetics, individualized cancer therapy, drug discovery, and drug delivery. “This gift is a fantastic opportunity,” UNC president Erskine Bowles said. “And if we challenge ourselves to raise … Read more
Three Faculty Members Receive Awards
December 4, 2007Three junior faculty members at the UNC School of Pharmacy have received awards from the University. Craig Lee, PhD, and Qisheng Zhang, PhD, each received a $7,500 Junior Faculty Development Award from the Committee on Faculty Research and Study Leaves. X. Simon Wang, PhD, received a $4,500 University Research Council Award. Lee is an assistant professor in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Pharmaceutics. He received both his doctor of pharmacy degree and his PhD from the School, and he has been a member of the faculty since 2006. His research examines the role of genomics in the development, progression, … Read more
Former GSK Exec to Lead UNC Drug Discovery Center
October 12, 2007Stephen Frye, PhD, former worldwide head of discovery, medicinal chemistry at GlaxoSmithKline, will lead the new Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “The days when large pharmaceutical companies could be solely relied on to effectively translate basic research into new medicines are passing,” Frye said. “Academic science will have to rise to the challenge.” Frye is co-inventor of GSK’s Avodart, a drug used to shrink an enlarged prostate gland that is also under study for prevention of prostate cancer. Prior to his most recent role at GSK, his department … Read more
J. Liu Creates New Form of Synthetic Heparin
September 21, 2007Researchers at the UNC School of Pharmacy have patented a synthetic version of the drug heparin, called Recomparin, that is less complex chemically and should be easier to produce than previous forms. Led by Jian Liu, PhD, scientists in the UNC School of Pharmacy discovered that they could remove a complex element from the heparin molecule without altering the drug’s function. The component, a single sugar called iduronic acid, is difficult to replicate and was long thought to be an important contributor to heparin’s function as an anticoagulant, Liu says. “We proved we don’t really need that structure for the … Read more
Chemical Biology Expert David Lawrence Joins School Faculty
September 7, 2007David Lawrence, PhD, a leading expert in the field of chemical biology, has joined the faculty of the UNC School of Pharmacy. Before joining the School’s Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products, Lawrence spent eleven years as a professor of biochemistry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in New York. Before that, he was at the State University of New York at Buffalo for ten years. He received his PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles. The School of Pharmacy collaborated with the Department of Chemistry, the School of Medicine, and the Lineberger Comprehensive … Read more