Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Drug Discovery
Our medicinal chemists are focused on developing medicines from natural sources. By isolating novel chemicals from plants or marine bacteria, they hunt for anti-cancer compounds, new antibiotics, novel anti-malarials, natural sunscreens and agents that might treat diabetes or even slow the aging process. Using bacteria, they are researching ways to biosynthesize novel compounds in greater abundance.

Pharmacology
Faculty members of the Gene Regulation & Disease research core are studying the mechanistic basis for control of gene expression by transcriptional regulatory proteins in developmental and pathological contexts. These studies typically require a multidisciplinary approach involving the fields of biochemistry, cell biology, epigenetics, and molecular, systems, network, and developmental biology. The core has also created numerous genetically modified mouse lines that serve as models for human diseases.

Pharmaceutics
Faculty members of the Targeted Drug Delivery research core are developing novel, nanoparticle-based systems for the tumor-selective delivery of cancer chemotherapeutic agents. These nanoparticle-based delivery systems are designed to silence key, cancer-driving genes in the tumors as well as directly induce tumor cell death via induction of heat within the tumor mass.