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Scientific Breakthrough Could Lead to Better Antipsychotic Drugs

January 25, 2018
Published in Nature, research from the lab of Bryan L. Roth, MD, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology, revealed the first-ever crystal structure of the dopamine 2 receptor bound to an antipsychotic drug – a much-needed discovery in the quest to create effective drugs with fewer side effects to treat bipolar...

UNC Scientists Discover Proteins Keeping Stem Cells in their Undifferentiated State

January 11, 2018
The lab of Jean Cook, PhD, joint professor in the department of pharmacology, found how a chain of proteins called an MCM complex could enable the fast cell-division that makes some forms of cancer so dangerous.

Scientists Take a Big Step toward Building a Better Opioid

January 11, 2018
In a paper published in Cell, research led by Bryan Roth, MD, PhD, and Roth lab members, Tao Ch, PhD and Daniel Wacker, PhD, show how to activate only one kind of brain receptor vital for pain relief. This receptor is not involved in addiction or respiratory depression that leads...

A microscope maker

December 7, 2017
Wesley Legant, PhD, Assistant Professor in Pharmacology, is highlighted in a Nature article on a do-it-yourself approach to microscopy that lead to the development of light sheet microscopy.

Could this Protein Protect People against Coronary Artery Disease?

November 17, 2017
Research led by UNC’s Jonathan Schisler, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, showed much lower levels of the protein CXCL5 in older people with clogged arteries.

How do adult brain circuits regulate new neuron production?

November 10, 2017
In a new study published in Cell Stem Cell, UNC School of Medicine neuroscientist Juan Song and colleagues discovered a long-distance brain circuit that controls the production of new neurons in the hippocampus.

Song Lab – Cover of Cell Stem Cell [Nov 2017]

November 2, 2017
Bao, Hechen*, African, Brent*, Li, W.*, Gu, B., Wen, Z., Lim, S.A., Haniff, I., Ramakrishnan, C., Deisseroth, K., Philpott B., Song, J. Long-Range GABAergic Inputs Regulate Neural Stem Cell Quiescence and Control Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis. Cell Stem Cell. 21(5): 604-617.e5, 2017. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2017.10.003. PMC5689456 *Co-first authors. Cover credit: Hechen Bao...

In ovarian cancer, researchers uncover new drivers of cell division

June 1, 2017
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...

Ganglionic GFAP+ glial Gq-GPCR signaling enhances heart functions in vivo

February 8, 2017
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

January 27, 2017
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.