RESEARCH FOCUS: Structure activity relationships of novel opioid compounds, novel rescue therapies, opioid maintenance therapies, new analgesics with reduced abuse potential.
Faculty
Jessica Anand, Assistant Professor
Laurence Baker, Professor Emeritus
RESEARCH FOCUS: Sarcoma tumor biology.
William Birdsong, Assistant Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: Opioid signaling, pain, electrophysiology.
J. Chad Brenner, Assistant Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: Bioinformatics, high-throughput siRNA/drug screening and functional genomics approaches to understand cancer biology and discover novel small molecule therapeutics.
Matthew Brody, Assistant Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: Molecular Cardiovascular Biology.
Christine Canman, Associate Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: Cancer cell biology, signal transduction, responses to DNA replication stress and DNA damaging chemotherapeutic drugs, genome stability and DNA repair.
Yuqing Eugene Chen, Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: Cardiovascular medicine, molecular basis of diabetes/obesity-induced cardiovascular diseases and stroke.
Adam Courtney, Assistant Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: Signal transduction in the immune system, T cell signaling pathways, immunotherapy strategies, protein regulation, and cancer therapeutics.
Margaret E. Gnegy, Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: Mechanism of action of amphetamine at the dopamine transporter; substrate and protein kinase effects on transporter trafficking; drugs to stop effects of amphetamine.
Michelle Hastings, Professor
Research Focus: RNA therapeutics, RNA splicing, antisense oligonucleotides, rare disease, genetics, inflammation, Usher syndrome, cystic fibrosis, Batten disease, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease
Michael Holinstat, Associate Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: Platelets, Thrombosis, Hemostasis, Clotting, Lipids, Lipoxygenase, Clinical research, Translational research, 12-LOX.
Lori Isom, Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: Mechanisms of epileptic encephalopathy and cardiac arrhythmias linked to mutations in voltage-gated sodium channel genes; mechanisms of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP); ion channel structure and function; transgenic mouse models of neurological and cardiac disease; patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cell neurons and cardiac myocytes.
Paul Jenkins, Assistant Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: Cellular and molecular neuroscience, Neuropsychiatric disease mechanisms, Bipolar disorder, Protein trafficking, Palmitoylation, Epithelial cell biology,Membrane structure, Mouse models, Electrophysiology.
David Jones, Assistant Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: Voltage-gated potassium channel, hERG, cardiac physiology and pathophysiology.
Kevin Jones, Assistant Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: Schizophrenia; Depression, Glutamate signaling, GABAergic interneurons, Fast-Spiking Interneurons, Patch-Clamp Electrophysiology, Behavior, NMDA receptors.
Robert T. Kennedy, Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: Neurotransmitters, insulin, metabolomics.
David Lorberbaum, Assistant Professor
Research Focus: Molecular mechanisms underlying pancreas development and function; Diabetes; Cell signaling; Gene regulation/expression; Cell fate; Islet biology.
Heather O'Malley, Assistant Research Scientist
Carole Parent, Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: Signal transduction pathways, inflammation, immune responses, tissue repair, and cancer metastasis.
Manojkumar Puthenveedu, Associate Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: GPCR trafficking and signaling, opioid, drug addiction.
Leslie Satin, Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: Cellular and molecular basis of Type 2 diabetes; ER stress and protein folding diseases; metabolic regulation of ion channel activity; optical methods; drug discovery in diabetes; synaptic transmission and metabolic health of neurons after brain trauma, models of cell function and signaling.
Emily Scott, Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: Structure/function of cytochrome P450 enzymes; drug metabolism; drug design.
Peter J. H. Scott, Associate Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: Adaptation of state-of-the-art organic chemistry techniques (including SPOS) for radiochemical applications, Microwave mediated radiochemistry, Development of multi-modality biomarkers for PET-MRI.
James A. Shayman, Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: Lysosomal storage diseases and the biochemistry, cellular biology and pharmacology of sphingolipids.
Alan Smrcka, Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: G proteins; G protein coupled-receptors; Cell Signaling Pathways; Drug Discovery; Cardiac Hypertrophy; Innate Immune Cell Regulation; Phosphatidylinositol, Calcium, and Protein kinase Signaling.
Laurie Svoboda, Assistant Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: Cardiovascular toxicology, developmental origins of health and disease, sex differences, epigenetics
Gregory Tall, Associate Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: Heterotrimeric G protein Signaling, G protein folding chaperones, Mechanisms of Adhesion GPCR action, Somatic G protein disease mutations, GNAQ/11-driven uveal melanoma, High throughput screening and small molecule probe discovery.
John Traynor, Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: Mechanisms of action of addictive drugs. To provide medications for pain relief and the treatment of addictions.
Yukun Yuan, Research Assistant Professor
RESEARCH FOCUS: Neurotoxicology, neuropharmacology/neurophysiology and neurological disorders.