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Mackman to lead 4-year $1.5-million award study into role of clotting protease and receptor in the innate immune response to viral infections
UNC receives $1.5-million grant to study the role of a clotting protease and receptor in the innate immune response to viral infections. Nigel Mackman, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Medicine, and joint Professor of Pharmacology, is the principal investigator of a 4-year $1.5-million award from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. This grant will determine the role of thrombin activation of protease-activated receptor 1 in the innate immune response to viral infections.
Willis laboratory recognized by Society of Endocrinology for excellence in endocrine research
The Willis laboratory has been recognized by the Society of Endocrinology for excellence in endocrine research and practice and for contributions to the wider biomedical and biological sciences field. The award was chosen by a panel on the basis of originality, scientific content, presentation and contribution to the field. The award will be presented to Monte Willis, PhD, at the Society’s Annual BES Conference in Harrogate, UK on November 7.
Jordan Walter Successfully Defends His PhD!
Congratulations to Jordan Walter, graduate student in the Crews Lab, for successfully defending His PhD Thesis!
In ovarian cancer, researchers uncover new drivers of cell division
UNC Lineberger's Michael J. Emanuele, PhD, and colleagues have identified a key activator that can turn on FoxM1, a protein that drives expression of genes that help cells replicate and divide, a finding they published in the journal Molecular and Cellular Biology. They also discovered, paradoxically, that the activator for FoxM1 is also responsible for turning this protein off.
Devon Blake Awarded NRSA F31 Predoctoral Fellowship
Disrupted signaling pathways that lead to aberrant cell movement are a hallmark of invasive and metastatic cancers. The small GTPase RhoA has a well-established role in normal cell biology, but the consequences of cancer-associated RhoA mutations are unknown. Devon will extensively characterize the effect of these mutations on the properties of RhoA in order to better understand how mutations in RhoA contribute to cancer
New Students Join the Pharmacology Program for 2017!
We welcome ten new students who are joining the Pharmacology PhD Program!
Leslie Parise elected UNC-Chapel Hill Faculty Chair
Parise is completing a second term on the Faculty Executive Committee (FEC) and Faculty Council, where she pushed for improvements to the campus work-life environment and initiated discussions that led to creation of the Chancellor’s Science Scholars Program in the College of Arts and Sciences.
New Students coming to the Carolina Summer Fellowship Program!
Get to know our eight new Carolina Summer Fellowship students who'll be arriving in May!
James Shellhammer Successfully Defends his PhD!
Congratulations to James Shellhammer who successfully defended his thesis March 27, 2017!
Peyton Bohnsack Successfully Defends His PhD!
Congratulations to Peyton Bohnsack, who successfully defend his PhD March 23, 2017!
The Itch Receptor - Kate Lansu leads research on opioid-induced itching
Researchers in the department of Pharmacology link orphan receptor MRGRPX2 to opioid-induced itching and create a tool to study the receptor more precisely.
H. Shelton Earp recognized for career achievements in cancer research
H. Shelton Earp, MD, Director of UNC Cancer Care and the Lineberger Professor of Cancer Research, and Joint Professor of Pharmacology has been honored with the Hyman L. Battle Distinguished Cancer Research Award along with Jenny P.Y. Ting, PhD, UNC Lineberger member and William Rand Kenan Professor of Genetics,
Researchers awarded grant to study strategy to improve immunotherapy response
With a $1.74 million grant from the NIH, UNC Lineberger researchers led by H. Shelton Earp, MD, will study a potential new strategy for improving immunotherapy drug responses in patients with melanoma.
Ganglionic GFAP+ glial Gq-GPCR signaling enhances heart functions in vivo
Alison Xiaoqiao Xie, research assistant professor in Ken McCarthy's lab, is first author on paper published in JCI Insight this week. Ken D. McCarthy, professor of pharmacology, is senior author and Jakovin J. Lee, is a co-author.
This is LSD attached to a brain cell serotonin receptor
For the first time, UNC School of Medicine researchers crystalized the structure of LSD attached to a human serotonin receptor of a brain cell, and they may have discovered why an “acid trip” lasts so long.
Researchers unlock mechanism of drug resistance in aggressive breast cancer
UNC Lineberger researchers find how triple negative breast cancer cells are able to bypass treatment with trametinib, an FDA-approved drug. The researchers also used lab models of breast cancer to test a potential treatment approach that could prevent resistance.
Inside the world of cell signaling: a G-protein breakthrough
UNC scientists led by John Sondek, PhD, created a new biochemical tool to block specific types of downstream G-protein signaling, opening new avenues of research and potential drug design and discovery.