PrezRepVF
4/15/09
1:38 PM
Page 16
Dr. William Millington is working with scientists from Turkey on the role of the brain chemical glycyl-glutamine in preventing drug addiction.
WORLD-WISE RESEARCH AND LEARNING International research is happening in the laboratories on campus, as well; a reflection of the pharmaceutical industry’s efforts to do more global research and the College’s drive to provide students a more worldly education.
central nervous system mediates the initiation of septic shock and how prenatal immune challenges, such as stress and infections, affect behavior during adulthood. Their work has been published in several journals.
Carlos Feleder, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, has been working with Xiujuan Yao, a Ph.D. candidate from the China Pharmaceutical University in Nanjing. Yao is at ACPHS for two years on a fellowship to supervise research activities related to a grant Dr. Feleder received from the National Institutes of Health to study the role of the spleen in managing fever (see page 8).
Dr. Feleder is also working with M. Sertac Yilmaz, M.D., Ph.D., a visiting scientist from Uludag University School of Medicine in Bursa, Turkey. Together with William Millington, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, they are studying and publishing articles on the role of the brain in septic and hemorrhagic shock. Along with another scientist from Uludag University, they are planning a symposium on the topic at a scientific meeting in Antalya, Turkey, in November 2009.
In addition, Dr. Feleder is working with Rodolfo Cutrera, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Physiology at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina. Their research is looking at how the
Separately, Dr. Millington has been working with Sinan Cavun M.D., Ph.D., and Gokhan Goktalay, M.D., Ph.D., associate professors of
Ophthalmology and biotechnology researchers from Showa University in Tokyo, shown here with Dr. Shaker Mousa and ACPHS President James J. Gozzo, spent three months at PRI on cutting-edge research to reverse vision loss in people with diabetes and macular degeneration.
pharmacology at Uludag. The trio is studying a brain chemical called glycyl-glutamine (Gly-Gln) and its role in the prevention of addiction to drugs such as nicotine and morphine. Their research on rats has shown that Gly-Gln reduces the effects of morphine and nicotine and the severity of withdrawal from these drugs. Dr. Cavun has taken the research even further in Uludag, using microdialysis techniques not available at ACPHS. “He showed that Gly-Gln inhibits the euphoria that a morphine high produces by preventing the morphine-induced release of dopamine in the brain reward pathway,” Dr. Millington says. Meanwhile, Dr. Goktalay is in Ankara, Turkey, testing whether Gly-Gln is effective in animal models of anxiety and epilepsy. Another faculty member working with international researchers is Robert M. Levin, Ph.D., professor of pharmaceutical sciences. Most of Dr. Levin’s research is in lower urinary tract function and dysfunction in both males and females. He has worked with several scientists from Maruzen Pharmaceuticals of Hiroshima, Japan to study the use of kohki tea for the treatment of urinary bladder dysfunction due to an enlarged prostate. Kohki is a leaf rich in antioxidants that comes from a plant in China, and is formulated into a medicinal tea by Maruzen. Dr. Levin also works with other international researchers from Taiwan, Korea and China on studies involving lower urinary tract dysfunctions including incontinence and interstitial cystitis in women. Still to come is a new venture between Luciana Lopes, PhD., an assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences at ACPHS, and Maria Vitoria Bentley, Ph,D. of the Pharmacy School of Ribeirao Preto at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. The two researchers will study the development and characterization of new transdermal delivery systems. Jaclyn Hosmer, a Pharm.D. student at ACPHS, is also involved in the research (see story page 20).