Research Areas

Molecular Pharmacology, Systems Pharmacology, Pharmacology, Systems Biology, doctoral degree, doctorate, PhD, Ph.D. Addiction, Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Infectious Disease, Neurodegenerative Disease, Bioinformatics, Cell Biology, Genomics, Neuroscience, Proteomics/Lipidomics, Signal Transduction, Structural Biology Pharmacology Training Faculty K. Ulrich Bayer, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Pharmacology Molecular memory mechanisms in cellular signal transduction and neuronal function; CaMKII and Ca2+ signaling Timothy A. Benke, M.D./Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Pediatrics, Department of Neurology Mechanisms of synaptic plasticity and impacts of development and epilepsy Michael D. Browning, Ph.D. Professor Department of Pharmacology Molecular mechanisms of neuronal function with particular emphasis on protein phosphorylation Mair E. A. Churchill, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Pharmacology Structure and mechanism in gene regulation; biophysical and structural studies of protein-nucleic acid and protein-protein complexes in chromatin and bacterial pathogenesis Allan C. Collins, Ph.D. Professor Univ. of Colorado, Boulder Department of Psychology Neurochemistry of alcohol and drug addiction Mark L. Dell'Acqua, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Pharmacology Organization of signaling complexes by protein kinase and phosphatase anchoring proteins; mechanisms regulating neuronal second messenger signaling in synaptic plasticity Elan Eisenmesser, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics Viral/host protein interactions and enzyme dynamics Paul V. Fennessey, Ph.D. Professor Department of Pharmacology, Department of Pediatrics Solutions to clinical problems using stable isotopes and mass spectrometry Curt R. Freed, M.D. Professor Department of Medicine The dynamic role of dopamine in movement; Neural transplantation for Parkinson's disease Robert M. D. Freedman, M.D. Professor and Chairman Department of Psychiatry, Veterans Affairs Medical Center Central nervous system physiology and pharmacology and its application to clinical psychiatry Lynn E. Heasley, Ph.D. Professor Department of Medicine, Department of Medicine Investigating the role of MAP kinases and specific receptor tyrosine kinases in normal and transformed growth of lung epithelial cells using techniques of molecular and cell biology in lung epithelial cells and human lung cancer cell lines Kim A. Heidenreich, Ph.D. Professor Department of Pharmacology Signal transduction pathways that regulate neuronal survival and apoptosis Peter M. Henson, Ph.D. Professor Department of Pathology, UCD/NJMRC Department of Integrated Immunology Inflammatory process as a paradigm of complex interacting cell networks and communication molecules and as a component of human diseases Robert S. Hodges, Ph.D. Professor Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics Structure-function studies of multi-protein complexes; de novo design of model proteins to test our understanding of protein folding and structure and to design proteins with the desired biological/immunological activities; Synthetic peptide vaccines and antimicrobial therapeutics Paula L. Hoffman, Ph.D. Professor Department of Pharmacology Neuropharmacology; mechanisms of alcohol tolerance, dependence, and craving; genetic aspects of alcohol dependence and affective disorders; biochemical/molecular biological/genetic analysis of CNS receptors and signal transduction systems Lawrence Hunter, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Pharmacology Computational biology, bioinformatics, gene expression array analysis, natural language processing, biomedical ontologies, machine learning David N. M. Jones, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Pharmacology Molecular mechanism of alcohols and anesthetic actions; structure and function of biomolecules; NMR spectroscopy, x-ray crystallography, biophysics and molecular biology John W. Kappler, Ph.D. Professor UCD/NJMRC Department of Integrated Immunology The study of the interaction between the T cell receptor and its signal ligands Leslie A. Krushel, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics Mechanisms and regulation of protein synthesis in the nervous system with a focus on the understanding of translation in learning and memory and disease Tatiana G. Kutateladze, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Pharmacology Biochemistry and structural biology, NMR and crystal structures of proteins implicated in cancer, structure based drug Sherry S. Leonard, Ph.D. Professor Department of Psychiatry Molecular neurobiology of nicotine addiction in mental illness Christina C. Leslie, Ph.D. Professor Department of Pediatrics, Department of Pathology Signal transduction mechanisms regulating phospholipase A2 activation and the production of lipid mediators of Chuan-Yuan Li, Ph.D. Professor and Director Department of Radiation Oncology Alvin M. Malkinson, Ph.D. Professor School of Pharmacy Genetics of susceptibility to lung tumors in mice; mechanisms of lung tumor promotion; signal transduction James L. Maller, Ph.D. Professor Department of Pharmacology Biochemistry of cell division and early development; cell cycle control; protein phosphorylation and oncogene action Robert C. Murphy, Ph.D. Professor Department of Pharmacology Pharmacology and biochemistry of leukotrienes and bioactive lipids, lipid mediators of cellular response using biochemical mass spectrometry Raphael A. Nemenoff, Ph.D. Professor Department of Medicine Signaling pathways controlling growth and differentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells; Role of eicosanoids in lung cancer Dennis R. Petersen, Ph.D. Professor Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Medicine Molecular mechanisms of chemical and drug toxicity J. David Port, Ph.D. Professor Department of Medicine, Department of Medicine G-protein linked receptors and their regulation; regulation of mRNA stability David W. H. Riches, Ph.D. Professor Critical Care Medicine, UCD/NJMRC Department of Integrated Immunology, Department of Biochemistry, Department of Medicine Signal transduction by TNF receptor family members and their involvement in macrophage development; Regulation of myofibroblast and macrophage apoptosis and survival in pulmonary fibrosis and cystic fibrosis William A. Sather, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Pharmacology Structural basis of calcium channel function, including selective ion permeability and neuromodulation of channel gating Robert I. Scheinman, Ph.D. Associate Research Professor School of Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy Regulation of gene expression focusing on basic mechanisms or transcription, apoptosis, immune tolerance, inflammatory diseases, and autoimmunity William P. Schiemann, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Pharmacology Mechanisms of TGF-b- mediated tumor suppression and tumor promotion; cloning and characterization of TFG-b-regulated signaling molecules and secretory proteins; expression proteomics and genomics, biochemistry, and cell Natalie J. Serkova, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Anesthesiology, Department of Radiology Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) based metabonomics; Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI); immunosuppressive drug toxicodynamics and toxicokinetics; ischemia/reperfusion in James M. Sikela, Ph.D. Professor Department of Pharmacology Neurogenomics; disease gene discovery; human genome evolution and variation Alexander D. Sorkin, Ph.D. Professor Department of Pharmacology Endocytosis, intracellular trafficking and signaling of growth factor receptors, dopamine transporter, dopaminergic neurons Stanley J. Szefler, M.D. Professor Department of Pediatrics Clinical pharmacology of glucocorticoids and immunosuppressants; therapy of childhood asthma Boris Tabakoff, Ph.D. Professor and Chairman Department of Pharmacology Molecular pharmacology; pharmacogenetics; neuroadaptation and neurotransmitter metabolism/enzymology; CNS receptor molecular pharmacology and genetics/genomics of addiction Andrew M. Thorburn, D.Phil. Professor and Vice Chair Department of Pharmacology Understanding the signaling mechanisms that control apoptosis in cancer development and during the response of tumor cells to cancer therapeutics Christine C. Wu, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Pharmacology Proteomic analysis of membrane proteins from complex biological samples using mass spectrometry; molecular mechanisms of intracellular trafficking and organellar biogenesis Nancy R. Zahniser, Ph.D. Professor Department of Pharmacology Regulation of dopamine transporters; mechanisms underlying cocaine's actions; neurotransmitter receptors and release in brain