Academic Affairs

Basic Science Research

Henry Cole: Pharmacology, pathophysiology

Medhane Cumbay: General Pharmacology, Neuropharmacology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Electrophysiology

Nandita Das: Biopharmaceutics, drug targeting, anticancer drug delivery, multi-drug resistance, nanomedicine

  • LYMPHATIC DELIVERY OF TAMOXIFEN
    The therapeutic profile of a number of chemotherapeutic drugs could be significantly enhanced by targeting them to the lymphatic system. We are developing a novel oral delivery system that will target the chemo drug to the lymphatic system via intestinal lymphatics.
  • CELLULAR DELIVERY OF RNA/DNA
    Cellular uptake of RNA and DNA molecules are due to poor permeability and surface charge. We are working on the development of efficient delivery systems for cellular delivery of siRNA.
  • MODULATION OF MULTI-DRUG RESISTANCE USING DELIVERY SYSTEMS
    A number of pharmacologically effective antineoplastic drugs fail to establish significant therapeutic activity due to poor solubility in aqueous medium. We are working on the development of suitable delivery systems for administration of such drugs, for use in multidrug resistant tumors.
  • DELIVERY OF PROTEIN AND PEPTIDE DRUGS
    Major problems in delivery of protein and peptide drugs are stability of drugs and permeation across the membrane. We are working on a number of carrier vehicles capable of delivering the protein drugs.

Sudip Das: Nanoparticles in drug delivery, controlled drug release, delivery of proteins, vaccines and nucleic acids, pharmaceutical formulation development, development of pharmaceutics curriculum for Pharm D and graduate program

  • DEVELOPMENT OF MUCOADHESIVE SUBLINGUAL TABLETS
    Mucoadhesive sublingual pellets have a very high potential to improve the bioavailability of drugs that undergo extensive first pass metabolism. We are currently studying a number of mucoadhesive polymers and physical properties of tablets and films.
  • LONG-CIRCULATING COLLOIDAL SYSTEMS FOR DRUG DELIVERY
    We are working on the development of long-circulating colloidal systems with altered surface physicochemical properties to bypass mononuclear phagocyte system (also called reticuloendothelial system) to deliver drugs and bioactive agents for prolonged period of time.
  • BLOOD BRAIN BARRIER AND CNS DRUG DELIVERY
    We are working on the development of novel techniques to deliver drugs across the blood-brain barrier. Our objective is to establish a correlation between the physicochemical properties of the delivery systems to the in vivo disposition of the drug and/or carrier.

Todd Hrubey: Professional curriculum development, academic and programmatic assessment, clinical biochemistry, pharmaceutical biotechnology

Angela Ockerman: Sterile Product Compounding, Home Infusion therapies, Hospital Administration

Michael Vance: Toxicology and pharmacology; history of toxicology and diseases

Kent VanTyle: General Pharmacology, Cardiovascular Pharmacology, Endocrine Pharmacology

Alexandre M. Erkine:

  • SETTING UP CONDITIONS FOR THE SCREENING OF CHEMICAL LIBRARIES LOOKING FOR COMPOUNDS AFFECTING MOLECULAR CHAPERONE ESPRESSION
    Recent scientific developments increasingly indicate that the molecular chaperone system is actively involved in cancerogenesis, neurodegeneration and cardiovascular disorders. The master regulator of molecular chaperone expression at the level of transcription is the heat shock factor (HSF). Development of drugs activating or repressing HSF is an important pharmacological goal. The objectives of our project include the creation of yeast strains that later will be utilized in high-throughput screens of chemical libraries for compounds affecting the HSF function. It will require engineering new gene reporter constructs and evaluating screening systems with known HSF - affecting compounds.
  • INVESTIGATIN OF MECHANISM OF CHROMATIN REMODELING AT HEAT SHOCK GENE PROMOTERS
    Chromatin remodeling is a fundamental prerequisite to eukaryotic gene activation and understanding the mechanisms of chromatin changes is an important question of molecular biology. We will use yeast heat shock genes as a model system to study chromatin remodeling mechanisms. In our future study, we will investigate involvement of different enzymatic activities at yeast heat shock gene promoters and the reasons chromatin changes vary drastically even for closely related and co-regulated heat shock genes. More specifically, we will address the following questions: are histone chaperones affect nucleosome translocation rates at heat shock gene promoters? What ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complexes are involved in the regulation of the nucleosome translocation rate at HSP promoters?
  • http://blue.butler.edu/~aerkine/index.html