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I’m often
asked what is the overall plan for developing research in our
department, so I have summarized below a recent presentation I gave on
this topic. The faculty of
the school planned an approach to develop a truly international class
research effort. We are passionate believers in the benefit of research
to our teaching programs and all faculty teach in both professional and
graduate programs. We started by defining where we wanted to go and
decided to focus in two areas; Molecular Toxicology and Pharmaceutical
Biotechnology. These areas are defined more fully in Fig 1.
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Molecular Toxicology is very
different to "classical toxicology" and involves defining
individual susceptibility to drugs and toxins and the science of
pharmacogenetics. This discipline relies heavily on molecular
techniques, information generated by the human genome project and a new
initiative at the National Institute of Health Sciences, the
Environmental Genome Project. Since many of us in the Pharmacy School
have an interest in drugs and their adverse effects, the mechanistic
aspects of drug induced toxicity is an area of emphasis. If one
doesn’t understand the mechanisms underlying drug toxicity it is not
possible to prevent or ameliorate toxicity or design rational antidotal
therapies. Environmental toxicity and carcinogenesis continue to be
major areas of regulatory and public concern and we have many active
researchers in these fields. Pharmaceutical Biotechnology is a
new area that has its roots in classical pharmaceutics, which in my
opinion is one of the disciplines that makes a pharmacy school unique.
Our research activity in this field is focused on the newer drugs of
proteins and oligonucleotides, The stability, targeted delivery and
analysis of these newer macromolecular pharmaceuticals presents new
challenges which has given our program a unique expertise and
international reputation.
If Molecular Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology represent the wheels of our research operation, cancer pharmacology and biomolecular structure are the axles which connect the wheels and generate a cohesive, collaborative and integrated research operation (Fig 2).
Cancer
Pharmacology
Biomolecular Structure
Figure 2
I will just mention a few things we are doing in these areas (Fig. 3)
Pharmacokinetics Drug Development Chemoprevention
Cancer Pharmacology
Biomolecular Structure
|
Molecular Modeling |
Protein Structure/ | Proeomics/ |
| Biophysical Chemistry | Mass Spectometry |
Figure 3
Analysis and pharmacokinetics of anticancer agents in phase I/II clinical trials was lacking on the UCHSC campus until we developed the Experimental Therapeutics Core of the University of Colorado Cancer Center. Drug development of new anticancer agents has been a focus of many researchers in the department and at least two phase I trials of new anticancer agents developed by our faculty are about to start. Chemoprevention, or prevention of cancer development, is the expertise of existing and new faculty and a new emphasis of the National Institutes of Health. The Cancer Pharmacology area interfaces very well with Molecular Toxicology and generates many collaborative research projects. Biomolecular Structure is currently the # 1 research priority on the UCHSC campus and we are at the center of that effort. Our focus in protein structure and biophysical chemistry interfaces nicely with our efforts in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology. This has been strengthened by the development of a new Mass spectrometry resource in the School of Pharmacy. This resource was developed jointly by the campus wide Biomolecular Structure Program, the Cancer Center and the School of Pharmacy and is very active since it provides the analytical basis for the exciting new science of proteomics. We currently have one of the best academic mass spectrometry facilities in the country and we are also developing a cutting edge molecular modeling facility where we can attack macromolecular structure and drug design issues using a computer based approach.
All of this investment in new faculty, infrastructure and collaborative approaches to complex problems has placed the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in an excellent position to exploit the advances in technology and drug development in the post genome era. We still have a long way to go but the signs of progress are inescapable. The major reason for our success is quite simple – it is the people that work in the department who make it special. Our international quality faculty are all doing innovative and funded research and are supported by many creative postdoctoral fellows and students. Their many efforts reflect well on the Department, the University and the State of Colorado.
David
Ross, Ph.D.
Department Chairman & Professor of Toxicology