The Pharmacist - The Research Issue/Spring 2016

SPRING 2016 • Volume 38 • Issue 2

The Pharmacist

THE RESEARCH ISSUE

A publication of the UIC College of Pharmacy

WHO IS THAT

MASKED MAN?

Disguised in lab coats, our college is full of heroes fighting for the future.

Supervillainous Superbugs, Meet Earth’s Mightiest Researchers!

Bacteria are powerless against the forces of Dr. Scott Franzblau and Dr. Mike Federle.

Making Discovery Marketable Pharmacy researchers are spinning off their discoveries into start-up companies.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

8

12 Features 8

Supervillainous Superbugs, meet Earth’s Mightiest Researchers!

Dr. Scott Franzblau and Dr. Michael Federle are each working on eradicating the scourge of antibiotic-resistant bacterium.

12 Making Discovery Marketable

Seungpyo Hong and Capio BioSciences are showing how to make research ventures into economic engines.

In September of 1868, our college published the first issue of a trade journal simply named “The Pharmacist.” The magazine you see before you is named in honor of that historic journal.

16 EDITORIAL CREDITS Publisher Jerry L. Bauman, PharmD, FCCP, FACC

Dean Editors Chris Gummert Assistant Director of Communications

18 Departments 2

Research: Driving Change, Driving the Economy

Dean Bauman discusses the impact of research on Illinois and the world.

Christopher J. Shoemaker, MED, MBA, CFRE

Assistant Dean for Advancement & Alumni Affairs Contributing Editors Michael Dhar Greg Holden Sam Hostettler Photography Barry Donald Roberta Dupuis-Devlin

3 Calendar

Designed by Studio V Design, Inc

4

College News

+++

16

Research Day

18

Alumni Reunion

21

Alumni News

Our best and brightest showcase their work at Research Day.

Alumni, friends and family gather to celebrate their college days.

UIC Pharmacist 833 S. Wood St. (MC 874) Chicago, IL 60612 Phone: (312) 996-7240 Fax: (312) 413-1910 E-mail: pharmacy@uic.edu Š2016. All rights reserved.

21 Obituaries

The Pharmacist | 1

FROM THE DEAN

Research: Driving Change, Driving the Economy

BY JERRY BAUMAN

RESEARCH

We are Chicago’s public research university for a reason: we’re very good at it.

The Carnegie Foundation ranks universities on their research productivity, the best being: “very high research activity.” These are the distinguished as “Carnegie One” institutions. We are one of only four Carnegie One institutions in Illinois, alongside the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Northwestern University and the University of Chicago.

That level of research activity carries with it a great deal of economic impact. A recent study estimated that UIC contributes 4 billion dollars a year to the Illinois economy, with the College of Pharmacy contributing heavily to that total with a solid 18.5 million dollars in total research expenditures.

Research creates discoveries. Discoveries create patents and startup companies.

Startup companies create jobs. And thanks to the amount of research performed here, College of Pharmacy researchers are helping the economy better than almost anyone else.

From 2007 – 2014, our faculty were issued 33 US patents for their discoveries. Thirtyseven of their discoveries were licensed to private companies, and over 70% of this activity

Got News?

Change jobs? Get a promotion? Publish a paper? Publish a book?

Get married? Have a baby? We want to hear about it all! Now you can send your news directly to the magazine editor.

Simply go to: go.uic.edu/PharmNews

Online pharmacy.uic.edu go.uic.edu/PharmFBChicago go.uic.edu/PharmFBRockford go.uic.edu/PharmTwitter go.uic.edu/PharmLinkedIn go.uic.edu/PharmInstagram go.uic.edu/PharmYouTube

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DISCOVERY PATENTS STARTUP COMPANIES JOBS

College of Pharmacy researchers helping the economy

has occurred in the last 3 years. In fact, 9 patents were issued to College of Pharmacy faculty in Fiscal 2013, the most of any college at UIC (tied with the College of Engineering). Overall, the discoveries, innovation, and technology created by our researchers has resulted in 11 start-up companies in the last 5 years. (You can read about one of them, Capio BioSciences, later in this magazine.)

Funding our public research universities, and in particular our College of Pharmacy, is a great investment. And an investment that yields fruit well beyond our campuses.

Research performed here helps people across the nation and around the world. We have more than 50 tenure-track faculty and over 100 research and clinical faculty members conducting research and providing training to over 120 graduate students. Investment in our students provides highly qualified pharmacy practitioners. Likewise, investment in our college to make important discoveries provides different, but equally valuable, contributions. 

Our digital edition

www.issuu.com/uicpharmacy UIC Pharmacist would like to hear from you and welcomes your letters: UIC Pharmacist (MC 874) 833 South Wood Street, Room 184KA Chicago, Illinois 60612-7230 E-mail: pharmacy@uic.edu Letters are edited for length and clarity. All reader correspondence to the magazine and its editorial staff will be treated as assigned for publication unless otherwise specified.

CALENDAR APR

06

MAY

05

MAY

19

HONORS CONVOCATION

Join us as we celebrate the achievements of our PharmD students at the 64th Annual Honors Convocation. Reception and ceremony will be held at the College of Pharmacy (833 South Wood Street) in Chicago.

COMMENCEMENT

Celebrating and welcoming the Class of 2016!! Commencement will be held at the UIC Forum (725 Roosevelt Road) in Chicago.

For details regarding the ceremony, please contact Deb Agard at agard@uic.edu.

PRECEPTOR CONFERENCE

The UIC Department of Pharmacy Practice Annual Preceptor Conference will be held on Thursday, May 19th.

SPEAKERS INCLUDE:

Dr. Michael Cohen President, Institute for Safe Medication Practices, Dr. Diane Ginsburg Past President of ASHP, author and editor of ASHP’s Preceptor’s Handbook for Pharmacists and Assistant Dean for Student Affairs at University of Texas Dr. Christene Jolowsky Past President of ASHP and Executive Director, Applied and Experiential Education, University of Minnesota

The even will be held at the UIC College of Pharmacy in room 134-2 in Chicago and room E218 in Rockford. For more information contact Kristen Goliak at kgoliak@uic.edu.

MAY

23

ISPOR ANNUAL MEETING

The Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomic Research welcomes alumni and friends to its annual dinner at Buca Di Beppo in Washington D.C. The event will be from 7p.m. to 9 p.m.

RSVP to Deb Fox at dfox4@uic.edu. 

The Pharmacist | 3

COLLEGE NEWS

FDA ACCEPTANCE

Evofem, Inc. Announces FDA Acceptance of New Drug Application for Amphora™ as a Contraceptive Evofem, Inc. announced that a New Drug Application for Amphora has been accepted for filing by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The NDA requests FDA approval for Amphora as a non-hormonal, vaginal gel contraceptive. The gel is based on the research of UIC Pharmacology Professor Don Waller.

The gel is based on the research of UIC Pharmacology Professor Don Waller.

“We are delighted that the FDA has accepted this filing for Amphora,” said Evofem CEO Saundra Pelletier.

“We believe that the data from our phase III trial with over 3,000 patients demonstrates that Amphora has the potential to be an important hormone-free contraceptive option for women.”

Multipurpose Prevention The application is supported by a large, multicenter, open-label, randomized, phase III trial that examined the repeated use of Amphora gel compared to a vaginal gel containing Nonoxynol-9 as the primary method of contraception over seven cycles of use. The FDA has also conditionally accepted the company’s proposed trade name of Amphora, a decision that would be finalized upon approval of the NDA. Amphora is a non-hormonal vaginal gel. In addition to the regulatory filing for approval as a contraceptive, Amphora is being investigated for microbicidal properties to develop a potential multipurpose prevention technology.

Amphora works by restoring the vaginal pH levels to those consistent with a healthy vaginal environment. A healthy

vaginal environment acts against both sperm, as well as, viral and bacterial pathogens.

Feminine Health & Hygiene Evofem, Inc. is a privately held biotechnology company that discovers, develops and commercializes prescription and over-the-counter products in the areas of feminine health and hygiene and for the prevention of sexually transmitted infections. Evofem, Inc. is committed to delivering effective, woman-controlled products and to distributing its products globally.

PEOPLE

Dr. Paul Pluta

Dr. Henri Manasse, with the assistance of the team from the University of Córdoba (shown above), conducted a three-hour workshop on pharmacy education reform in the Americas.

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The votes are in, and, according to the P1 students, Dr. Paul Pluta is the Instructor of the Semester for his Pharmaceutics 1 class.

HONORS AND AWARDS

Genetic Test Helps Guide Dosing of Blood Thinners

BY SAM HOSTETTLER

A new genetic testing program at the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System for patients on blood-thinning drugs showed reduced complications and improved patient safety — with significant cost savings — over its first 16 months in operation.

Reducing Hospital Readmissions UI Health’s Personalized Medicine Program, led by UIC pharmacy professor Edith Nutescu, was one of three finalists for the 2015 Award for Excellence in Medication-Use Safety announced Dec. 6 by the American Society of HealthSystems Pharmacists Foundation.

Begun in 2012, the UI Health program aims to reduce emergency visits and hospital readmissions due to the prescription medications warfarin and clopidogrel. Warfarin, the most widely used anticoagulant, is prescribed for patients at risk for blood clots.

Clopidogrel is an anti-platelet agent used to prevent heart attack and stroke.

“Our pharmacogenetics service is one of the first in the nation, and the clinical outcomes we’ve had are very impressive.

Simply put, this innovative service improves patient care by personalizing each patient’s drug therapy.”

JERRY BAUMAN, DEAN

Proper dosages of warfarin and clopidogrel are difficult to determine, especially initially, due to variables that include a patient’s diet, age and other medications. Patients prescribed too high a dose are at risk of life-threatening bleeding. Too low a dose leaves them vulnerable to dangerous blood clots.

Incorporating genetic information into therapeutic decision-making should optimize medication use, Nutescu said, which would reduce the failure rate during initial stages of treatment, improve patient outcomes, and lower costs.

Hospital readmission rates due to drug-related complications decrease by…

68%

within 90 days

Seven UIC College of Pharmacy faculty have been appointed to the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Committees: Mike Gabay, Chair, Publications

77%

within 30 days

Melissa Badowski, Vice-Chair of Clinical Practice Affairs Committee

$2,043 Estimated cost savings per patient

More than 800 patients were genotyped for warfarin and clopidogrel dosing in the initial phase of the program (a number that has since increased to more than 1,500). Hospital readmission rates due to drug-related complications within 30 days decreased by 77 percent, and within 90 days by 68 percent, Nutescu said, resulting in an estimated cost savings of $2,043 per patient — nearly $600,000 annually at UI Health.

Personalized Medical Team UI Health is among the first academic medical centers to incorporate a pharmacist-led personalized medicine program as part of its standard care for patients taking potentially dangerous medications, Nutescu said. Along with pharmacists, UI Health’s personalized medicine team includes cardiologists, hematologists, molecular pathologists, information technologists and health system administrators.

“Pharmacists are uniquely suited to lead interdisciplinary teams of professionals that use pharmacogenomics for precision medicine,” said Jerry Bauman, Dean of the UIC College of Pharmacy and interim vice president for health affairs at UI Health.

Maya Campara, Member, Annual Meeting Program Committee

Juliana Chan, Member, Credentials: FCCP Committee

Nancy Shapiro, Member, Awards Committee

Paul Stranges, Member, Research Affairs

Jan Engle, Member, Member Relations Committee

The Pharmacist | 5

COLLEGE NEWS

PEOPLE

Dean Jerry Bauman and UIC Chancellor Michael Amiridis had some special guests at a recent UIC Flames basketball game. Pictured are Jan Spunt, Avery Spunt (BS 70), Matt Holderly, P3 Student and PSC President, Dennis Fruin (BS 76), Chancellor Amiridis, Dean Bauman and Ed Cohen (BS 75).

RANKING

College of Pharmacy Ranked Number Four Nationwide in Research Funding

BY SAM HOSTETTLER

The University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy ranked fourth nationally in the amount of grants and contracts awarded by the National Institutes of Health and other federal and non-federal agencies for fiscal year 2014, according to figures released by the Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

UIC was awarded nearly $18.5 million for fiscal year 2014, trailing only the University of California at San Francisco, the University of Kansas, and the

“We are extremely pleased to achieve this level of funding and to be ranked so highly among our peers in this regard. It’s a testament to our exceptional faculty who continue to be funded for their work in this difficult and highly competitive environment, and a testament to the quality and impact of their work.”

JERRY BAUMAN, DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF PHARMACY

New Grant Awarded Dr. Alan Kozikowski received an NIH R01 cancer grant for his research into “RAD51 Inhibitors for Chemotherapy and Radiation Therapy” . The grant is for $118,893. He is collaborating with University of Chicago’s Phil Connell.

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University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, respectively.

The University of Colorado rounded out the top five.

Federal and Private Funding UIC received more than $10.8 million in funding from 14 NIH institutes, among them the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute, the National Cancer Institute and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Nearly $5.4 million came from non-federal grants (ranking UIC number two in that category) and $2.2 million from other federal agencies.

An additional $1.3 million was obtained through private grants, although the AACP does not recognize these in their figures.

Research: a UIC Legacy Among the awards received in fiscal year 2014 is a grant to conduct research on how to improve pain control in adults with sickle cell disease by phenotypic characterization of their chronic pain experiences; a diabetes management program aimed at African American, and Latinos to improve medication adherence and intensify therapy to reach goals in blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol levels; and a study to develop a new treatment for sleep-disordered breathing such as sleep apnea.

Jerry Bauman, Dean of the College of Pharmacy, cited the work of Joanna Burdette, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education, as being a key factor in the success of the college. Burdette assumed the position after Steve Swanson left UIC to become pharmacy dean at the University of Wisconsin.

“Research and discovery are parts of our legacy and the fabric as a faculty and college,” Bauman said. “It’s one of a number of features that distinguished us from the other 132 colleges of pharmacy.” 

Heroes Among Us! Us! Among A team of heroes in matching labcoats is taking on dastardly foes from all corners of the known universe! From the specter of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, to the scourge of cancer, pharmacy researchers are answering the call. These scientific avengers are not only the heroes we need, they are the heroes we deserve!

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“ I see critically ill patients, and they’re infected with bacteria that are resistant to everything. We have no antibiotics left to treat them.”

ALAN GROSS Clinical pharmacist at UIC studying multidrug-resistant organisms

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GS, MEET U B R E P U S S U O IN LA IL V R E SUP

T S IE T H IG M ’S H T R A E RES EARC HE RS! If Loki, the trickster god and supervillain of the “Avengers” franchise, has a counterpart in the microscopic world, it’s probably an antibioticresistant bacterium. Physicians and researchers battling infections across the world today face a tricky, mischievous foe in these superbugs, one who seems to shift before scientists’ eyes and slither past their best defenses.

Due to antibiotic over-prescription and misuse, combined with the simple effects of microbe evolution, bacterial infections today frequently survive drugs that had worked for years, said Alan Gross, a clinical pharmacist at UIC who studies multidrug-resistant organisms.

Now, for example, about 40% of patients with a Staphylococcus aureus infection have the formerly rare resistant strain called MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), Gross said.

Superbugs Meet Their Match Take heart, however, citizens! Even as these trickster microbes amass in a grotesque army of supervillanous superbugs, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (mightiest researchers, anyway) are at headquarters devising a counterattack.

Meet two intrepid bug warriors at UIC who have taken up shields and hammers in the fight against these resistant bugs: Scott Franzblau, a professor at the UIC Institute for Tuberculosis Research, and Michael Federle, principal investigator in the UIC lab probing bacterial communication.

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Hammering resistant TB Sometimes, you just need to clobber your foe with a powerful weapon. Like the mighty Thor, and his trusty hammer, superbug researchers often need a storied, old tool. In the fight against resistant microbes, that weapon is the antibiotic drug.

Resistance, however, means that researchers must invent or discover new versions of that weapon. To do so, the UIC institute employs high-throughput systems for testing thousands of potential anti-TB compounds simultaneously.

UIC’s robotics lab helps, he said, but the real hero is modern microplate technology.

Super-Capacity “If you have access to a robot, you can use microplates that have 384 wells, in the size of a plate that approximates a petri dish,” Franzblau said. “That allows you to test hundreds of samples, where in the past, that same-size plate would just allow you test a few.”

That capacity is rare, so UIC serves as a resource “for any groups in the world who have compounds they think might be useful for TB,” he said.

Franzblau’s lab also conducts its own searches for new compounds to test, using several different approaches. For example, the institute unearthed undiscovered, TB-active compounds produced by soil and other microorganisms.

Compounds from these general types of microbes were long ago tested on other diseases, but never against TB. (A common source of antibiotics, these soil, aquatic and marine bugs produce the compounds, it’s hypothesized, to compete with other microbes.)

“The thing that I realized over 10 years ago was that at the time we were finding antibiotics from the soil, the testing was not done directly on TB,” Franzblau said. “It was only after they found something active against [other] bacteria, that they would turn their attention and say, ‘Might it also kill TB?’”

Zeroing In On TB

“We developed ways to test very large numbers of samples — hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands — against real-virulent tuberculosis.”

SCOTT FRANZBLAU Professor, UIC Institute for Tuberculosis Research

Since TB is susceptible to many drugs that don’t affect other bacteria, “that implies that researchers would have missed many compounds produced by these soil bacteria that only kill tuberculosis,” he said.

In this effort, UIC collaborates with Korean researchers who have compiled an extensive collection of such microbes.

Among the UIC institute’s other approaches, it also aims at particular molecular targets in the TB bacterium.

Once the researchers find an effective compound, by whichever approach, they can send it on to pharmaceutical companies for clinical testing. This is possible today largely due to support from the nonprofit Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, Franzblau said.

In all of these efforts, TB presents unique challenges, even among resistant organisms. Treating active TB requires multiple drugs from the get-go. Physicians have learned that using just one drug results in relapse, Franzblau said.

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The idea of Federle’s research, is to silence those signals that make certain bacteria cause harm.

. . . . .

H H H SHH “So in the case where you do have multiple drugresistance…you’re in this bizarre situation, where you don’t just need to find one new drug, you need to find multiple new drugs,” he said.

That makes research into new drugs against resistant TB even more pressing, he added.

“Today, we have TB that is resistant to essentially all of the drugs that are available for the disease,” Franzblau said.

“It’s really quite an extraordinary challenge.”

Silencing a Signal Trusty weapons will always have a place in a hero’s arsenal. A complete team, however, also needs new weapons and recruits. The Avengers have their Vision, an amazingly powerful android who can attack in ways his teammates never could. Researchers at UIC, too, have a creative new “vision” in the fight against superbugs. Instead of targeting some feature of a bacterium itself, to kill the bug dead, Michael Federle, principal investigator in the UIC lab probing bacterial communication, aims to stop the bugs from talking to each other.

To do so, Federle and colleagues study the chemical signals that leach out from one bacterium to another.

The Calls Are Coming From Inside “We’re trying to understand how these bacteria are using chemical signaling…and how that helps them live in our bodies either asymptomatically or in the pathway to making us sick,” he said.

Such signaling is widespread. Individual bacteria secrete so-called pheromones to influence the behavior of their microbial colleagues. Such microbial communiqués do everything from inducing cell division to facilitating the sharing of DNA between different cells.

The idea of Federle’s research, he said, is to silence those signals that make certain bacteria cause harm. For example, in Staphylococcus aureus, when the bacteria population in a patient rises, the bugs’ signals induce the release of toxins, which cause illness. The method would, in theory, work against bacteria like this, which “99.99% of the time” live in human bodies without causing illness, Federle said.

“The data suggest it’s only when these bacteria are stressed…that they go through genetic programs” that cause sickness, he said. “If we can convince the bacteria that they need to go back to living with us without causing harm, they’re going to remain perfectly fit to live in that kind of a niche,” he said.

Resistance Is Futile Even better, this nonlethal mode of attack is less likely to inspire resistance, Federle said. When you kill bacteria with antibiotics, the survivors will be resistant, and they will likely come to dominate the bacterial population.

However, if you merely disrupt the signals that cause “bad bacterial behavior,” the bugs won’t die, and the resistant ones won’t get a competitive advantage.

“We think that might be a more sustainable method, that would not put a strong selective pressure on them to resist this kind of treatment,” Federle said.

Clinically useable drugs deploying this kind of attack will require more research, however, Federle said. He estimates 10 years until the first such medicines will be ready for clinical use. But creative new approaches like this are essential in the fight against resistant bacteria, Federle said.

“Our field needs to identify new antibiotics for sure. But we’ve already hit the low-hanging fruit,” he said. “We also need to be thinking of alternative ways to deal with how bacteria are causing illnesses.” 

The Pharmacist | 11

When Seungpyo Hong was a boy growing up in Korea, he dreamed of finding a way to relieve the suffering of cancer.

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MAKING MARKETABLE

BY GREG HOLDEN

“I lost some beloved family members to cancer when I was little, including my father and grandmother. My lifelong goal has been to discover and create new technology to help not only cancer patients but also their immediate families who feel every bit of pain their loved ones have to suffer from.”

Now that he is Associate Professor of Pharmaceutics and Director of Graduate Education in the UIC College of Pharmacy, Hong is getting close to realizing his goal.

He has created a new diagnostic tool that will improve treatment options for people with cancer. Not only that, but thanks to the University of Illinois’ guidance and support he has been able to turn his tool, the UiChip, into a commercializable product and form a new company — Capio Biosciences — to get his innovation out to the public in the near future.

In other words, Seungpyo Hong has learned the many benefits of doing research at UIC. Hong, 41, came to the U.S. in 2002. As a postdoctoral student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he worked in the lab of Robert Langer, a researcher, inventor, and entrepreneur who has nearly 1,050 patents worldwide. Hong describes Langer as “probably the world’s most famous biomedical scientist.”

The Pharmacist | 13

“Seungpyo is brilliant and was a real pleasure to have in our lab,” says Langer. “His success at UIC is absolutely predictable.”

down 150, then 100, that’s a sign that the radiotherapy is working. If it doesn’t go down you could direct patients to another specific treatment.”

As head of the Hong Research Lab at UIC, he focuses on the intersection of materials science, biology, and nanotechnology. His UiChip is a new medical device that detects circulating tumor cells (CTCs). CTCs are cells that escape from solid tumors and travel through the blood to other parts of the body. They can be responsible, at least in part, for the metastasis, or the spreading of cancer cells, which is one of the major reasons cancer can be so fatal. Detecting CTCs is critical for detecting metastasis early and treating the cancer. There were nearly 120,000 deaths in 2014 from metastatic breast, colon, and prostate cancer.

Hong recalls the moment when he first knew the diagnostic device would work. “It was a long process of eight years, but when my postdoc first got the clinical data and emailed it to me, we immediately knew we could capture CTCs from a patient’s blood. The number of CTCs we captured was phenomenal — higher than any technology we knew of (a few hundreds vs. a few per mL). We thought, ‘This technology will really work.’ That was a huge moment for us.”

Current methods used to test for CTCs are expensive, complex and not very sensitive. “The only FDA-approved system for CTC detection is ‘CellSearch,’” explains Hong.

“Due to its limited sensitivity, prescription rates by doctors for the test have been fairly low.”

CellSearch typically detects less than 10 CTCs per 7.5 mL of human blood, he adds. In contrast, the UiChip detects an average of ~200 CTCs per mL. It enables less invasive testing (blood tests rather than solid biopsies) resulting in more precise treatment plans. “UiChip offers significantly enhanced sensitivity and specificity,” he says. “It is a more reliable detection system. We can see trends of CTCs that are really trackable, making CTCs a reliable biomarker for cancer progress. At the time they are diagnosed the patient can be shown to have, for instance, 200 CTCs per mL. If the patient gets radiotherapy and the CTCs go

To market the discovery, Hong founded Capio Biosciences with his colleague Dr. Andrew Wang, a radiation oncologist at the University of North Carolina. (Capio means “capture” in Greek.) Currently they are in the final phase of fundraising with potential investors to back their startup. They plan to work with the FDA in the U.S. and the equivalent of the FDA in China in 2-3 years.

How did Hong get from the point of having a big idea to identifying it in the lab to forming a new company? They benefited from multiple levels of support provided by UIC and the University of Illinois. These, in turn, have a “ripple effect” of benefits for cancer patients in particular and society at large.

Finding Institutional Support Hong credits a UIC Chancellor’s Innovation Fund (CIF) award as being critical to establishing the company. The CIF has been established to support the commercialization of technology developed by faculty, staff and students at UIC. It’s just one of several support services that make up the Innovate@UIC initiative that helps UIC faculty and students license a product, start a venture, or get funding for a startup. Hong also had help from the UIC Office of Technology Management in protecting the intellectual property developed in his lab.

Capio Biosciences is currently located in the incubator laboratory space called HTI in Chicago Technology Park. HTI is part of EnterpriseWorks Chicago, another Innovate@UIC initiative. “It’s an enormous help from the university, especially at this early stage,” acknowledges Hong. EnterpriseWorks Chicago also provided a student consulting team and assistance with applying for Small Business Innovation Research federal funding. He and his fellow researchers have also benefited from mentors from the Chicago Innovation Mentors program (CIM). The CIM is operated by a consortium of universities, including UIC, and provides experienced mentors to those science-based ventures.

Boosting the Local Economy Some of the big benefits of starting a company are felt by the local economy through taxes and employment.

Though it’s too early to tell for sure how big Capio

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“I believe that’s the goal of all academaicians. You are trying to do research and change the world.”

SEUNGPYO HONG

SPINNING OFF SUCCESS Capio BioSciences is a story of a successful start-up company spun off from UIC Pharmacy research, but it is not the only one. Here’s a list of some of the other spin-off companies currently being run by faculty members.

Biosciences will be, Hong projects that there will be 10 to 15 employees two years from now. But more than that, he adds: “If a company becomes successful you can pay salaries, but more than that, our products, especially coming out of the life sciences, can directly help people.”

Debra Tonetti and Greg Thatcher

Raising UIC’s Reputation

Oncology

Raising UIC’s visibility as a research institution is a priority as well. “The good thing about inventions at universities that create companies is not just for the economy but for the universities as well. I think UIC deserves a better reputation as a research institution. That was one of the reasons we named our tool the UiChip: to promote the reputation of UIC. UIC is a great place to do research, and our College of Pharmacy is highly supportive of the entrepreneurship activities of its faculty members.”

Improved Diagnosis, Better Treatment The ability to commercialize a discovery and create a company enables a new product to get out into the marketplace. In this case, the UiChip can be sold to medical research labs and hospitals. It can then help cancer patients get better treatment, allowing them to have fewer solid biopsies and expensive PET/CT scans that are also cumbersome to patients.

Currently, Capio Biosciences has several clinical pilot studies underway for the UiChip, including two at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Illinois Cancer Center. Results are promising, says Hong. “We already have a prototype device in our lab we can use to count the CTCs, but when we are ready to move forward we will develop a semi-automated box that can provide information on CTCs without complicated processes.”

Looking ahead, Hong and his team are pursuing more discoveries. These include a way of delivering chemotherapy in a localized manner rather than orally or by injection to reduce side effects, and a targeted delivery system for cancer medicine by engineering nanoparticles that target cancer cells without harming healthy cells. All these initiatives fit the overarching goal of research and discovery ultimately designed to help people. 

COMPANY

TTC ONCOLOGY, LLC FACULTY INVOLVED FOCUS

COMPANY

APOTHECA THERAPEUTICS FACULTY INVOLVED

Alan Kozikowski and Irina Gaisina FOCUS

Oncology COMPANY

SHUTTLE PHARMACEUTICALS FACULTY INVOLVED

Pavel Petukhov, Irina Gaisina and Alan Kozikowski FOCUS

Oncology COMPANY

VISTA ONCOLOGY FACULTY INVOLVED

Hayat Onyuksel FOCUS

Oncology COMPANY

GROUND FLUOR PHARMACEUTICALS FACULTY INVOLVED

Steve DiMango FOCUS

Positron Emitting Tomography (PET) imaging

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RESEARCH DAY

A Meeting of the Minds Research Day is all about rewarding exceptional minds doing extraordinary work. And this year’s Research Day, held on February 26th 2016, was no exception. Seventy-five judges, all from external pharmacy partners, gathered to judge student research poster presentations on topics ranging from Mobile Pharmacy Education to breast cancer.

The day also featured the award presentation to faculty and alums. The Hans W. Valteich Research Award was presented to Assistant Professor Alessandra Eustaquio, PhD, from the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy and the Center for Biomolecular Sciences for her work entitled: “Production of fluorinated polyketide drugs using microbial fermentation.” Jane Hsiao, PhD 1973, was awarded the Alumna of the Year award from the College for her outstanding work in the pharmaceutical industry, as well as private philanthropical endeavors.

And the brilliant minds were not only from UIC. Keynote speaker Dennis Liotta, PhD, DSc, from Emory University’s Institute for Drug Development gave a talk entitled “A New Model for Drug Development in Academic Institutions.”

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Student Poster Winners Biology: Molecular and Cell Biology; Mechanisms of Action 1ST PLACE

Innovate@UIC Innovation Award FIRST PLACE

Takeda Pharmaceuticals Award for Excellence in Research Thao ND Pham, Bethany PE White, Huiping Zhao and Debra A Tonetti “ Protein kinase C alpha mediates FOXC2 transcriptional repression of p120-catenin in breast cancer”

Rui Xiong, Jiong Zhao, Lauren Gutgesell and Gregory R. J. Thatcher “Novel Selective Estrogen Receptor Downregulators Developed Using Endocrine-Independent Breast Cancer Cell Lines”

2ND PLACE

(Tie, Listed in Alphabetical Order) Ja Hye Myung, Sin-jung Park, Kevin Tam, Andrew Z. Wang and Seungpyo Hong “UiChip: Circulating Tumor Cell Detection for Monitoring Radiotherapy Responses” Pooja Narendra, Anushree Datar, Tanja Skakavac, Karin Nitiss, John Nitiss and Rohit Kolhatkar “Use of minicircle DNA as a tool to induce RNAi to knockdown oncogenic EML4-ALK in lung cancer cell lines”

Hospira Award for Excellence in Research Matthew Gilbertson, Karin Nitiss and John Nitiss “Trapped Topoisomerase 2 covalent complexes generate unique mutational spectrum” 3RD PLACE

Lundbeck Award for Excellence in Research Dimple Modi, Rosemarie Tagare, David Davis, Dan Lantvit and Joanna E. Burdette “Regulation of PAX2 in fallopian tube epithelium and high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma”

Congratulations to all the amazing minds on display at Research Day!

Specialty Prizes

SECOND PLACE

UI Cancer Center Cancer Science Prize

HONORABLE MENTION

FIRST PLACE

Chemistry: Discovery, Modeling, Design and Evaluation of Novel Drugs; Detection and Delivery Systems

SECOND PLACE

Jing Li, Karin Nitiss, Matthew Summerlin, John L. Nitiss and Les Hanakahi “Investigating Role of TDP1 In NonHomologous End Joining”

1ST PLACE

Takeda Pharmaceuticals Award for Excellence in Research Lauren M. Gutgesell, Jiong Zhao, Kiira Ratia, and Gregory R.J. Thatcher “A chemical genomic approach for identifying vulnerability in tamoxifen resistant breast cancer” 2ND PLACE

Horizon Pharma Award for Excellence in Research Thomas Speltz, Sean Fanning, Christopher Mayne, Colin Fowler, Emad Tajkhorshid, Geoffrey Greene, Jeanne Danes, Jonna Frasor and Terry Moore “Branching Out: γ-Methylated Hydrocarbon Stapled Peptides for the Estrogen Receptor/Coactivator Interaction”

Clinical, Social and Applied Sciences 1ST PLACE

Takeda Pharmaceuticals Award for Excellence in Research Surafel Mulugeta, Eric Wenzler, Melinda M. Soriano, Fred Zar and Larry Danziger “Differences in Clostridium difficile infection outcomes between guideline concordant and discordant therapy” 2ND PLACE

TEVA Award for Excellence in Research Pohung Lin, Beenish S. Manzoor, Adela Lupas, Raluca Birza, Dan Gratie and Edith A. Nutescu “The Impact of Genotype Testing On Clinical Outcomes in Warfarin Treated Patients Undergoing Major Orthopedic Surgery and Managed by a PharmacistGuided Personalized Consult Service”

Yilun Sun and John Nitiss “Processing of topoisomerase II (TOP2) - DNA covalent complexes for repair of DNA damage induced by TOP2-targeting anti-cancer agents”

Thomas Hanigan, Jayaprakash Neerasa, Jonna Frasor and Pavel Petukhov “Cell Based Strategy to Improve HDAC Inhibitor Efficacy as Breast Cancer Therapeutics” Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) Multidisciplinary Team Science Prize Mary Choules, Michael Mayer and Minh Vo (Mentor Guido Pauli) “Estimation of Systemic Drug Exposure in Obese Patients Following Bariatric Surgery Using Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic Modeling Approach” American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Student Choice Award Rui Xiong, Jiong Zhao, Lauren Gutgesell and Gregory R. J. Thatcher “Novel Selective Estrogen Receptor Downregulators Developed Using EndocrineIndependent Breast Cancer Cell Lines” Controlled Release Society (CRS) Student Choice Award Jose Suarez and Rohit Kolhatkar “Comparative analysis of polymeric conjugates containing first generation Geldanamycin or second generation SNX-5422 as HSP90 inhibitors” International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) Student Choice Award Wan-Ju Lee, Leslie A. Briars, Todd A. Lee, Gregory S. Calip, Katie J. Suda and Glen T. Schumock “Utilization of Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha Inhibitors in Children and Young Adults with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis”

The Pharmacist | 17

REUNION 18 | pharmalumni.uic.edu

SPRING 2016

Alumni Reunion 2015 The annual Alumni Reunion was held November 14th, 2015 at Maggiano’s Little Italy in Oak Brook, Illinois. Dinner and fellowship were capped off with an award ceremony that recognized Vince Foglia, James Dorociak, Avery Spunt, Karen Sweiss and Richard Hutchinson. Vince Foglia, head of the Foglia Family Foundation, was honored with the Retzky Philanthropic Leadership Award for his generous donation to the compounding lab renovation effort. Mr. Foglia, who was not able to attend the reunion, accepted in the form of a video shown at the ceremony. Alumnus of the Year was awarded to James Dorociak (BS 1981, PharmD 1983). Karen Sweiss (PharmD 2007) received the Rising Star Award for young alums, but was unable to attend the ceremony. Avery Spunt (BS 1970, MED 1984) went home with the Jesse Stewart Service Award, and former Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice, Richard Hutchinson, was given the prestigious Legacy Award for his contributions to Pharmacy Practice and Hospital Pharmacy. More on Richard Hutchinson’s contributions to hospital pharmacy will be covered in our “Clinical Issue” coming out in July.

The Pharmacist | 19

ALUMNI NEWS OBITUARIES

Skylar Carlson, PhD 2015, accepted a post-doctoral position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying biofilm inhibition in marine sponges.

Zenia Samara, PharmD 2009, and Philip Bertulfo are the proud parents of future pharmacist Nathaniel Bertulfo. Nathaniel was born in December of 2014.

He probably looks nothing like this anymore, but we’re happy to see that photo just the same!

Toby G. Clark passed away Sunday, October 18, 2015 at age 71 in his residence in Charleston, South Carolina. He was born and raised in Indiana, but resided in numerous states. Toby moved to Charleston in 2000.

He graduated from Ohio Northern University and Wayne State University. He had a long and successful professional career in hospital pharmacy management and education, and received numerous awards and honors. He was a clinical assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and also served as the director of hospital pharmacy services at UIC Medical Center from 19912000. Toby is survived by his wife of 16 years, Patricia Kruger.

Robert Hauert, BS 1950, passed away on October 16th, 2015 at the age of 87 in Aurora, Illinois.

Robert was born in Crystal Lake, Illinois. He had three pharmacy stores in Elmhurst, Hillside and Villa Park. He also represented Weeks and Leo Pharmaceutical Company.

Patrick J. Carroll, BS 1970, passed away Wednesday, September 30th, 2015 at the age of 69 in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Patrick graduated from Spaulding Institute in 1964. He attended Canton Community College and graduated from the University of Illinois School of Pharmacy in 1970. Patrick worked as a pharmacist for over 40 years including owning his own business (Carroll’s Pharmacy – Peoria, IL) for 17 years. Patrick is survived by his wife Constance “Connie” Jeneson.

20 | pharmalumni.uic.edu

SPRING 2016

OWN A PIECE OF

UIC PHARMACY

History

The upcoming renovation of the compounding lab will mean removing the original lab benches. The original, well-loved benches were installed shortly after the building was opened in 1955. And now they’re preparing for their next journey: to your house! You can now own this historic piece of the UIC College of Pharmacy’s legacy. Simply contact Chris Shoemaker at cjshoema@uic.edu for details on how to make one of these handsome benches your own.

Pharmacoepidemiology Certificate 100% Online Certificate Program Now Enrolling for Fall 2016 and Spring 2017 Advance your Career in Pharmacoepidemiology Research & Drug Safety Regulation The increased use and complexity of pharmaceuticals have led to public and societal concerns about medication safety and effectiveness. Better evidence on the benefits and harms of medications in populations is critically needed to help inform health care, health policy and treatment decisions made by providers and patients. Individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively examine

medication use in large populations are highly sought after by employers from the pharmaceutical industry, consulting organizations, government agencies, and academia, among others; both in the United States and throughout the world. The Pharmacoepidemiology Certificate will prepare participants for successful careers by providing training in pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacovigilance.

A COLLABORATION BETWEEN

MORE INFORMATION (312) 996-4795 PECadmin@uic.edu go.uic.edu/pharmacoepicertificate

UIC College of Pharmacy (MC 874) 833 South Wood Street Chicago, Illinois 60612