Research

Top Scientific Minds Highlight UK College of Pharmacy Research Conference

 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 5, 2015) -- Graduate students from across the nation will descend upon Lexington and the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy June 11-13 for the 47th annual Pharmaceutics Graduate Student Research Meeting (PGSRM).

 

PGSRM is a graduate student-organized conference with more than 20 schools participating across the midwest to eastern regions. The main research areas covered in this conference are drug design and discovery, formulation development, drug delivery, biotechnology, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, biopharmaceutics, pharmaceutical materials science, and pharmaceutical analytical methods.

 

The College is hosting this event for the first time since 1985 and registration for the event – including poster and podia presentations – is now open for members across the UK graduate, postdoctoral and faculty scholar communities. More than 200 students in attendance are expected from schools throughout the region.

 

“We hope fellow graduate students from across the UK community come out and support PGSRM, it’s a great way to welcome the visiting students and scholars to UK and to showcase all the excellent research taking place here ” said Lin Ao, a UK College of Pharmacy graduate student and co-chair of PGSRM 2015. “Our guest speakers represent a wide array of scientific disciplines that we hope will be interesting to faculty, postdocs, and students across campus.”

 

Featured speakers include:

 

• Brad Anderson, Ph.D., the H.B. Kostenbauder Professor in Pharmaceutical Sciences and director of the Division of Drug Development at the UK College of Pharmacy, and co-program director/MPI for the UK Cancer Nanotechnology Training Center. His current research interest include controlled drug delivery to solid tumors using nanotechnology, chemical stability in amorphous solid-state formulations, and molecular dynamics simulations to explore the properties of drugs in amorphous formulations.

 

• Renier Brentjens, M.D., Ph.D., director of cellular therapeutics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He is a medical oncologist specializing in the treatment of acute and chronic leukemias. His laboratory is focused on developing novel treatment approaches for certain leukemias and lymphomas utilizing the patient's own immune system.

 

• Kim Brouwer, Pharm.D., Ph.D., a UK College of Pharmacy alumna, is the William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor and chair of the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics of the University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy and a professor in toxicology. Dr. Brouwer directs an NIH-funded research program focused on hepatobiliary drug disposition and development and refinement of in vitro model systems to predict in vivo hepatobiliary disposition, drug interactions and hepatotoxicity.

 

• Paul Hergenrother, Ph.D., the Kenneth Rinehart Jr. Endowed Chair in Natural Products Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois. The overarching goal of his research is to use organic compounds to identify novel cellular targets that can be exploited in the treatment of diseases including cancer, degenerative disorders, and drug-resistant bacteria.

 

• Hamid Ghandehari, Ph.D., professor in the Departments of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Bioengineering, director of Utah Center for Nanomedicine, and co-founder and co-director of the Nano Institute of Utah and director of the University of Utah Nanotechnology Training Program at the University of Utah. His research focuses on the design of new polymers for gene therapy of head and neck cancer, targeted delivery of polymer therapeutics to solid tumors, oral delivery of chemotherapeutics, and assessing the biocompatibility of silica and dendritic nano constructs.

 

Ao notes that there are many ways for attendees to engage in PGSRM 2015. From attending world-class lectures to presenting a poster or podia presentation or attending one of the many banquets and social events, the meeting is primed to be a hit for UK’s scientific community.

 

“PGSRM provides a great opportunity for graduate students to discuss their research with peers, alumni, and members from academia, government and industry,” said Ao. “And we look forward to seeing members from throughout the campus community also take part in this unique opportunity.”

 

The deadline for registration and abstract submission is May 15. Registration is $65 and is available through the official PGSRM 2015 website: http://pharmacy.mc.uky.edu/programs/graduate/pgsrm2015.php.