Research News
Facts and Figures
Our researchers are increasingly productive, as can be seen in the figure on the right. College of Pharmacy sponsored research programs reached $30 million in Fiscal Year 2010.
The UIC College of Pharmacy was ranked 3rd in overall sponsored research funding for NIH FY2010 and 7th in NIH funding (with prime plus subcontract awards included) by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, out of 73 research-intensive colleges of pharmacy in the national survey. The AACP data for FY11 are not yet available.
For FY2011, total research sponsored program expenditures in the College were over $21M, with increase of 3% from FY2010. This places the College as number 4 among the top colleges within the University of Ilinois at Chicago, for the 3rd year in a row. The primary source of research expenditures in the College are federal grants, which represent 85% of the funding, with top agencies being National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, and National Science Foundation. Out of the 156 UIC departments included in the FY2011 research expenditures report, most of the College departments ranked within the first 50 with regard to research expenditures. The department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy was rated as number 5 within UIC, up from the 6th place in FY2010. For more details, visit Grants&Contracts website.
Newly Honored
The Hans W. Vahlteich Chair Investiture Ceremony honors Professor Thatcher
Dr. Gregory R.J.Thatcher became the Hans W. Vahlteich Chair in Medicinal Chemistry and was honored on March 8, 2012. Please go here for more information.
Dr. Adam Negrusz became a Diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Toxicology (D-ABFT). This is the highest credential in forensic toxicology, and is an honor accorded to but few people in the country and abroad, about 130 total.
Newly Funded
Two COP research teams secured pilot funding in the form of Chancellor's Discovery Fund Award. Dr. Rick Gemeinhart is one of the investigators on a proposal entitled “Dual functional polymeric particles combining photodynamic therapy with chemotherapy for the Treatment of Glioblastoma Multiforme”. Dr. Seungpyo Hong and Dr. Joanna Burdette secured funding for their collaborative work on “Ovarian cancer prevention and therapy using polymeric nanocarriers targeting follicle stimulating hormone and Mullerian inhibiting substance”.
Pharmacy Practice's Dr. Jeremy Johnson received American Cancer Society grant for project “Prostate Cancer Chemoprevention with Carnosol by Dual Disruption of AR/ER”. This 4 year award starts on July 1, 2012.
Biopharmaceutical Sciences' Dr. Xiaolong He received one year award from American Cancer Society, Illinois division. His project “Functional Significance of CDC42 Alternative Splicing in Ovarian Cancer” starts on June 1, 2012.
ITR's Dr. Scott Franzblau received an NIH R21 award for his project “In-Vitro Detection of Anti-TB Liver Metabolites in Early Drug Discovery”, with the starting date of 2/15/2012.
ITR Research Professor Dr. Larry Klein received an NIH R21 award for his project “Novel Indigoid Anti-Tuberculosis Agents”, with the starting date of 2/15/2012.
ITR Research Assistant Professor Dr. Birgit Jaki received an NIH R21 award for her project “Development of a transformative approach to the rapid detection, isolation, and identification of anti-tuberculosis natural products”, with the starting date of 2/15/2012.
College of Pharmacy investigators were successful in obtaining funding in the inaugural series of the OVCR Areas of Excellence Awards. A group of Pharmacy Practice investigators, Dr. Julio Duarte, Dr. Larisa Cavallari, Dr. Jeffry Bishop and Dr. Monsheel Sodhi received a Phase 1 award for their project “Feasibility of an NIH Pharmacogenomics Research Network”. MCP's Dr. Gregory Thatcher and Dr. Pavel Petukhov are PIs on Phase 2 projects, “Development of novel inhibitors of PBEF/NAMPT to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension” and “Anti-hepatitis B virus (HBV) compounds targeting host factors”, respectively.
Dr. Hyun-Young Jeong received “Just In Time” award from UIC CCTS for her project entitled “Induction of CYP2D6 Expression During Pregnancy”.
Drs. Guido Pauli and Brent Friesen received a patent for “Selection & Rational Development of Solvent Systems in Counter-Current Chromatography”.
Dr. Gregory Thatcher received a five year R01 funding from NIH National Cancer Institute for his project entitled “Biointeractions of Antiestrogens with Nitric Oxide”.
Congratulations to our trainees
Pharmacognosy student Pulkit Gupta (Mankin Lab), Pharmacy Administration student Fang-Ju (Irene) Lin (mentored by Drs. Pickard and Lee) and BPS student Fatima Khaja (Onyuksel Lab) received the Dean's Scholar Award.
BPS student Jason Buhrman (Gemeinhart Lab) and MCP students Hazem Abdelkarim (Petukhov Lab) and Krishna Kannan (Mankin Lab) received Spring 2012 Provost and Deiss Award for Graduate Research. More details.
MCP students Karina M. Szymulanska-Ramamurthy (Che Lab) and Rasika Phansalkar (Pauli Lab) received an Honorable Mention for an image Colors of Curcuma in the 2012 Image of Research competition organized by UIC Graduate College.
BPS student Khyati Gajjar (Hong Lab) was one of the 10 presenters to receive a honorable mention at the AACR 7th Annual Undergraduate Student Caucus & Poster Competition (USCPC) during this year's annual AACR meeting.
BPS students Suhair Sunoqrot (Hong Lab) and Bethany Perez White (Tonetti Lab) received the Chancellor's Student Service and Leadership Award. More details.
Pharmacognosy student Chaitanya Aggarwal (Federle Lab) has been named 2012 Chicago Biomedical Consortium Scholar. He is one of the three incoming CBC Scholars representing UIC. This honor comes with a grant of $5,000/year for up to two years to be used for academically related purposes such as travel to conferences.
Pharmacognosy student Rene Ramos (Pauli Lab) is the recipient of the Chicago Consular Corps Scholarship for the academic year 2011-2012. He received this award ($1,000) at a banquet with numerous Chicago-based Consuls from the hands of the Consular of his home country, El Salvador.