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pharmacy student doing research
School of Pharmacy

School of Pharmacy Research

Honors Research Program

Summary

This track is designed to provide exceptional students in the School of Pharmacy with in-depth training and experience in research relevant to the Pharm.D. curriculum. As the program is intended to promote independent thinking and scholarly inquiry, it is tailored to student participant interests and is highly student and faculty-directed.

Program Synopsis

  • P1 – P2 years: Develop research project with faculty research advisor and train at research site (i.e., laboratory, clinical site, etc.)
  • P3 – P4 years: Execute research project, analyze data, prepare manuscript or abstract
  • Oral presentation of project at Research Track Symposium

Benefits

Development of a specialized area of knowledge during the Pharm.D. program

  • One-on-one specialized mentoring with a School of Pharmacy faculty member
  • Practical experience with experimental design and modern research techniques in a laboratory, clinical, or academic setting
  • Training in conducting research and interpreting findings
  • Enhanced presentation and writing skills
  • Preparation for entry to graduate program, residencies, and fellowships
  • Strengthened curriculum vitae
  • Special recognition at commencement and on transcript
  • Potential for publication of research findings in abstracts and peer-reviewed journals

Please contact Dr. Michael Hambuchen, Pharm.D., Ph.D. for more information.

Professors & Areas of Research

Dr. Ruhul Amin

  • Preventing the progression of premalignant lesions of the head and neck or lung to invasive cancers

Dr. Eric Blough

  • Nanoparticles for the treatment of sepsis, muscle atrophy, and cardiovascular disease
  • Investigation of SGLT-2 inhibitors for the treatment of metabolic syndrome and cardiac dysfunction

Dr. Michael Hambuchen

  • Comorbidities of methamphetamine use disorder
  • Methamphetamine overdose
  • Development of therapies to treat methamphetamine use disorder and its comorbidities

Dr. Cynthia Jones

  • Metabolic syndrome
  • Diabetes
  • Targeted drug delivery

Dr. Hasan Koc

  • Proteomics of mitochondrial translation
  • Mass spectrometry
  • Pharmacoanalysis

Dr. Timothy Long

  • Discovery of new antibiotics
  • Synthesis and evaluation of compounds as antibacterial and anti-biofilm agents for multi-drug resistant
  • Staphylococcus aureus including MRSA
  • Novel approaches to enhance the efficacy of approved antibiotics using inhibitors that disable pathways involved in ROS detoxification in bacteria
  • Small molecule antagonists of thiol-redox homeostasis

Dr. Jeremy McAleer

  • Immunology
  • Effect of dietary fat on microbiota and pulmonary antifungal immunity
  • The role of extracellular acidification on T cell-mediated immunity

Dr. Boyd Rorabaugh

  • Methamphetamine exposure on cardiac function

Dr. Melinda Varney

  • Immunology, Hematologic malignancy, and Infection susceptibility
Laboratories & Equipment

Laboratories

Our new building contains 4,294 sq. ft. of state-of-the-art research laboratory space on the third floor. The space has an open lab design to facilitate cross-cutting, collaborative research between MUSOP investigators conducting innovative research in pharmacology, immunology, microbiology, pharmaceutics, and medicinal chemistry. In addition, dedicated labs to house major research equipment (e.g., NMR, LCMS, HPLC, cell Imager), a cold room, and cell culture rooms are located on the third floor.

Equipment

Medicinal Chemistry

  • Bruker 300 MHz NMR with autosampler (installation in 2019)
  • NMReady Benchtop 60 MHz NMR
  • Biotage Isolera One with TLC-to-gradient technology, for automated flash chromatography
  • Anton Paar Monowave 50 microwave synthesizer
  • Kruss automatic polarimeter
  • Molecular Modeling Quantum TXR411-0128R MD Compatible System – FEP+ Workstation (dual PC-Linux operating system) with Schrodinger Advanced Docking Suite, Phase Suite, and Quikprop annual licenses
  • Parr 3916E hydrogenation apparatus
  • Radley’s Carousel Plus 12 vessel reaction station used for parallel synthesis
  • Savant SPD131DDA SpeedVac with RVT5105 refrigerated vapor trap
  • Labconco FreeZone triad freeze dry system
  • Plas-Labs glove box
  • Boekel Dricycler
  • Yamato RE-301-CW rotary evaporators

Pharmaceutics

  • HAAKE™ MARS™ Rheometer
  • Guoming tablet hardness tester
  • Cole Parmer/Memmert stability chamber
  • Sotax semi-automated dissolution apparatus
  • Desktop tablet press TDP 5
  • Sotax disintegration tester
  • Mettler Toledo G10S potentiometric titrator
  • Purair NANO ductless nanoparticle containment enclosure
  • Nano DeBEE laboratory homogenizer
  • Agilent 1290 Infinity/ 6490 triple quad LC/MS triple quad ESI and APCI source
  • Shimidazu HPLC equipped with autosampler, thermostat, PDA, and fraction collector
  • Agilent 1260 Infinity II HPLC equipped with autosampler, thermostat, and PDA
  • Agilent 5977B GCMS with autosampler

Pharmacology

  • BioTek Cytation 1 cell imager with CO2 controller
  • Thermo Scientific Countess II FL automated cell counter
  • AirClean 600 PCR Workstation
  • Molecular Devices Filter Max F3 multi-mode microplate reader
  • Thermo Scientific Multiskan GO microplate reader
  • Forma Scientific 3029 forced draft CO2 incubator
  • Sorvall Legend Micro 17R refrigerated microcentrifuge
  • Sorvall Legend X1R refrigerated centrifuge
  • NanoDrop Lite spectrophotometer
  • QuantStudio 3 Flex Real-time PCR system
  • VWR inverted fluorescence microscope with digital camera
  • Acea Novocyte 2000R flow cytometer
  • Leica CM1800 cryostat
  • MaxQ 4450 orbital shaker