June 30, 2014
Nicole Zane, PharmD, has received two grants totaling $70,000 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America Foundation.
Zane is a graduate student in the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. Dhiren Thakker, PhD, is her faculty adviser.
The Shriver institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, awarded Zane a one-year, $30,000 grant for her project, “Predicting Pediatric Voriconazole PK Using In Vitro Metabolism & PBPK Modeling.” The institute aims to understand the “complex process of human development from conception to old age.”
Zane also received a two-year grant from the PhRMA Foundation. This grant awards $20,000 per year. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America Foundation supports promising students engaged in research that involves molecular or cellular mechanisms.
Since graduating from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in 2010, Zane has been a member of the Thakker Lab at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. She is currently studying sildenafil and voriconazole and how they are modified in the bodies of premature infants and children.
Voriconazole is an antifungal medication used to treat life-threatening conditions. Zane’s research involves the genetic variation of enzymes responsible for clearing the drug from the system. Specifically, she uses in vitro metabolism of the drug to learn the mechanistic causes of pharmacokinetic differences in adults and children.
By Abigail Brewer
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