E-News
Pharmacy and Agriculture Partner to Advance Potential New Plant-Based Medicine
A collaborative effort between two colleges at the University of Kentucky, involving the Kentucky Tobacco Research and Development Center at UK, holds opportunity to advance a potential new treatment for a variety of cancers.
Researchers in the College of Pharmacy and the College of Agriculture together with Leuchemix Inc., a research and development company based in Northern California, are working together on the production of the plant "feverfew", the raw material for the production of parthenolide.
Potential New Cancer Treatments Evaluated at UK
UK pharmaceutical scientists Paul Bummer and Brad Anderson have received $1.6 million from the National Cancer Institute to conduct studies of solubility and chemical stability of potential anti-cancer agents and then to formulate these agents into dosage forms suitable for intravenous administration.
Since 2000, Drs. Bummer and Anderson have been one of only three groups of scientists in the United States selected and funded by NCI to conduct these studies. So far, two of the compounds analyzed at UK are now in human clinical trials.
Jay Receives $3.96 million from NIH
Michael Jay, Ph.D., professor of pharmaceutical sciences, has received $3.96 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for further development of treatments to be used in radiation emergencies such as after exposure to dirty bombs. Jay received $1.2 million in 2005 to begin the study and says after synthesizing a series of compounds, he and his colleagues quickly focused in on one that they will continue to study in the product development phase.
The goal of the study is to find an orally administered dosage formulation for inclusion in the Strategic National Stockpile. Jay is the principal investigator on the study. Others collaborating in the study are Dr. Robert Yokel, professor and associate dean for research and graduate education and Dr. Patrick McNamara, professor and chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
DeLuca Named AAPS President-Elect
Patrick P. DeLuca, Ph.D., professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy, has been elected to serve as president-elect of the 13,000 member American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS), based in Arlington, Va. He will begin his term in November 2007 at the AAPS Annual Meeting in San Diego, Calif., which anticipates an attendance of over 8,000.
"Dr. DeLuca has been deeply involved in the association," says the association's executive director John Lisack Jr., "and there is no doubt in my mind that his presidential term will more than live up to the standard of excellence that has been established by his predecessors."
As president-elect, Dr. DeLuca will join 2008 President Karen Habucky, Ph.D.; Immediate Past President Gene Fiese, Ph.D.; Treasurer, Phil Mayer, Ph.D.; and John Lisack, Jr., on the Executive Committee of the AAPS Executive Council.
UK Researchers Find New Class of Nontoxic Cancer Treatments
A new class of compounds developed by University of Kentucky researchers shows promise as a nontoxic treatment of some cancers previously treated with toxic chemotherapy. In a study published in the April 30 issue of the academic journal Chemistry & Biology, UK pharmaceutical sciences graduate student Abby Ho mentored by assistant professor Kyung-Bo Kim and ophthalmology and visual sciences assistant professor Royce Mohan describe a compound that acts directly on LMP2, a component of the immune proteasome variant that has been identified abundantly expressed in certain types of tumors, including some prostate cancers.