College of Pharmacy

Pharmacology/Toxicology

PHARMACOLOGY/TOXICOLOGY GRADUATE FACULTY

 

General Interests of Graduate Faculty Members:
(To view faculty research information, click on faculty hyperlink or page down).

Pharmacology Toxicology
Neal M. Davies John Brown
Joseph Harding James P. Kehrer
Herbert Hill Neal M. Davies
Suzanne Lindsey Kwan Hee Kim
Kathryn E. Meier
Steve Simasko
Katrina Mealey
David W. Koh
 
Cancer Research Immunopharmacology/Immunotoxicology
Margaret Black Catherine Elstad
Sayed Daoud Gary Meadows 
Catherine Elstad
Arash Hatefi
Gary Meadows
Kathryn E. Meier  
   
Neurobiology/Neuropharmacology
Rebecca Craft Chemistry
Joseph Harding Paul Benny
Raymond Quock  
Robert Ritter  
Sue Ritter  
Barbara A. Sorg  

PHARMACOLOGY/TOXICOLOGY GRADUATE FACULTY

Benny, Paul, Assistant Professor, Chemistry, Phone 335-3858;
Radiopharmaceutical chemistry. Development and characterization of radioactive metal complexes for diagnosis and treatment of biological diseases.
Email: bennyp@wsu.edu
Website:http://www.chem.wsu.edu/people/faculty/bennyp.html

Black, Margaret E., Associate Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy. Research interests focus on two overlapping areas: suicide gene therapy of cancer and structure to function studies of enzymes involved in nucleotide metabolism with particular emphasis on molecular evolution, protein engineering, pathway engineering, molecular modeling, enzyme kinetics, prodrug activation and in vitro and in vivo testing of enzyme variants with different prodrug-enzyme combinations. [Cancer Research]
Email: blackm@mail.wsu.edu
Website: http://www.pharmacy.wsu.edu/PharmSci/black.html

Brown, John J., Professor, and Chairman, Department of Entomology. Researching the effect of Insect Growth Regulators (IGR=Hormone Analogs and Antagonists) on both target and non-target organisms. Searching for new insect-specific growth regulators including venoms and other secretions of parasitic wasps. Investigating the potential of new insect control agents through an understanding of the basic physiology of target insects species. [Environmental toxicology and invertebrate endocrinology]
Email: brownjj@mail.wsu.edu
Website: http://entomology.wsu.edu/Profiles/brown.html

Craft, Rebecca M., Associate Professor, Department of Psychology. Sex differences in the psychopharmacology of opioids, cannabinoids and stimulants (reinforcing, analgesic, motoric and other effects); gonadal steroid modulation of pain, analgesia and mood. [Behavioral pharmacology]
Email: craft@wsu.edu
Website:http://www.crb.wsu.edu/3FacultyPages/Craft.html and http://www.wsu.edu/~craft/

Daoud, Sayed S., Associate Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy. Research interests focus on cancer pharmacology and revolve around the use of topoisomerase I enzyme as a target for cancer chemotherapy and the use of cell cycle regulation to understand the mechanism(s) of its inhibition in tumor and normal cells. The work is mainly with cultured tumor cells, normal and transformed cells and employs biochemical and molecular techniques. The more applied work of our research centers on the use of drug delivery systems such as liposomes to target tumor cells to increase drug efficacy and bioavailability. The work is mainly with cultured cells, and human tumor models xenografted in immunodeficient (nude) mice. [Cancer pharmacology, tumor biology, angiogenesis, cancer chemotherapy, drug delivery and targeting]
Email: daoud@mail.wsu.edu
Website: http://www.pharmacy.wsu.edu/PharmSci/daoud.html

Davies, Neal M., Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy. Pre-clinical and clinical absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination of drugs (pharmacokinetics). Gastrointestinal and kidney toxicity of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and anti-cancer agents. Animal models of disease (colitis, arthritis, ulceration, hyperlipidemia, colorectal cancer, endotoxemia, diabetes, etc) Toxicokinetics and toxicogenomics using high-performance liquid chromatography and real-time polymerase chain reaction. Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic modeling. (Pharmacology and Toxicology);Phone:335-4754
Email:ndavies@wsu.edu
Websites: http://www.pharmacy.wsu.edu/PharmSci/davies.html

Dong, Yan, Assistant Professor, Department of VCAPP
Our long-term research interest is to understanding the neural mechanisms through which the brain perceives, differentiates, and prioritizes the motivational signals. We use drug addiction as the animal model. The initial drug experience may not be so pleasant. However, after repeated exposure, drug-elicited motivation becomes stronger and stronger and eventually overrides other motivational inputs, resulting in robust drug-seeking behaviors, or addiction. Our central hypothesis is that repeated exposure to strong incentive stimuli, such as cocaine intake, rewires the microcircuits whin the brain reward pathway, leading to pathological prioritization of drug-related motivation. We employ multidisciplinary approaches including in vitro and in vivo electrophysiological recordings, molecular manipulations, biochemical assays and behavioral tests to examine this hypothesis.
Email:Yandong@vetmed.wsu.edu Phone: 509-335-5960
Website: http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/research_vcapp/ydong.asp

Elstad,Catherine A., Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy. Modulation of tumor phenotype by extracellular matrix and biological response modifiers; tumor cell-matrix interactions with consequences for tumor differentiation, metastasis, heterogeneity, drug-sensitivity, and therapeutic interventions. [Pharmacology, Cancer Biology and Immunopharmacology]
Email:elstad@mail.wsu.edu Phone: 335-8030
Website: http://www.pharmacy.wsu.edu/PharmSci/elstad.html

Harding, Joseph W., Ph.D., Professor, Department of VCAPP
The broad interest of my laboratory is to understand the functional importance and mechanism of action of neuropeptides. I am particularly interested in a family of peptides called angiotensins and how these peptides regulate cardiocascular function, body water balance, and cognitive function via interactions with brain sites.
Email: hardingj@vetmed.wsu.edu Phone: (509) 335-7927
Website:http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/research_vcapp/harding.asp

Hatefi, Arash, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy. Research interests focus on: A) genetically engineered protein polymers for targeted cancer gene therapy. This is an innovative approach in designing and developing protein polymers for systemic gene delivery using recombinant techniques. B) Design and biosynthesis of nature-inspired vectors for systemic gene therapy. This research delineates the step by step development of multi-functional gene carriers designed to overcome the intracellular barriers to non-viral gene transfer. In order to maximize the efficiency, each segment of the gene carrier is designed based on the motifs that exist in nature and has perfected during the evolution process. C) Development of biocompatible biomaterials for localized virus or drug delivery. This research focuses on the development of biodegradable implant systems for sustained delivery of viruses/drugs to tumors or organs.  [Nanomedicine, Cancer Gene therapy, Biomaterial engineering, Gene/drug/virus delivery].
Email: ahatefi@wsu.edu
Website: http://www.pharmacy.wsu.edu/PharmSci/hatefi.html

Hill, Herbert H., Professor, Department of Chemistry
Development of analytical instrumentation for trace organic analysis. Gas chromatography, liquid chromatography, supercritical fluid chromatography, mass spectrometry, and ion mobility spectrometry, (Bioanalytical chemistry)
Email: hhhill@wsu.edu Phone: (509) 335-5648
Website:http://www.chem.wsu.edu/people/faculty/hhhill.html

Kehrer, James P., Professor and Dean, College of Pharmacy Research.   Interests focus on the following:  *Molecular mechanisms by which acrolein, a cyclophosphamide metabolite, affects apoptosis and cell proliferation; effects on NF-kB; role of acrolein in the anticancer efficacy of this drug, *Thioredoxin and apoptosis; role of thioredoxin in cell signaling, *Mechanisms of apoptosis induced by lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors; role of lipocalin expression (24p3 and NGAL) and Akt signaling pathways, *Free radical toxicity; glutathione and apoptosis. [Cancer research & Toxicology]
Email:kehrer@wsu.edu Phone: 335-4750
Website: http://www.pharmacy.wsu.edu/PharmSci/kehrer.html

Koh, David W., Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.  Molecular and cellular mechanisms of in vitro and in vivo cell death; cell signaling events following genotoxic stress which ultimately determine cell fate; apoptosis; Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) dependent cell death; role of poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation in tumorgenicity, cancer cell survival, and cancer therapeutics. Experimental techniques include cell culture, mouse models of cancer and tissue injury, confocal and EM microscopy, PCR, cloning, gene targeting, Western blotting, cell death assays, and flow cytometry.
Email:dwkoh@wsu.edu Phone: 335-7663
Website: http://www.pharmacy.wsu.edu/PharmSci/koh.html

Kim, Kwan Hee, Professor, School of Molecular Biosciences. Research interests in our laboratory focus on the function of retinoids (vitamin A) and their receptors in embryonic and postnatal testis development, with emphasis on studying the mechanism(s) of retinoid action, and the inter action of retinoids with phthalate plasticizers (environmental toxins) or ethanol (alcohol). Students have opportunities to use diverse experimental approaches: physiological approaches using rodents and transgenic mice; cell biology approaches using cell culture, organ culture, microscopy, immunohistochemistry, and in situ hybridization; molecular approaches using real-time PCR, cloning, Western blot analysis, and
transfections; and a genomics approach using mciroarrays. [Toxicology]
Email: khkim@wsu.edu Phone: 335-7022
Website: http://molecular.biosciences.wsu.edu/faculty/kim.html

Lindsey, Suzanne, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Migration and Invasion in Cancer and Cytotrophoblast Cell Biology. Aprimary focus of my laboratory is to determine, characterize and test the feasibility of cancer cell-specific targets and markers in order to detect and treat this disease. We have several promising leads in pursuit of this goal.
Email: lindseys@wsu.edu Phone: 335-4689
Website:http://www.pharmacy.wsu.edu/PharmSci/lindsey.html

Meadows, Gary G., Professor of Pharmacognosy, Dorothy O. Kennedy Distinguished Professor, and Director of the Cancer Prevention Research Center, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the College of Pharmacy. Tumor biology with emphasis on the signaling and molecular mechanisms underlying regulation of tumor growth, apoptosis, invasion, and metastasis by oncogenes, growth factors, cytokines, nutrients, and proteases; host: tumor cell interactions; biochemical and molecular mechanisms encompassing the immunotoxicity of alcohol consumption on cell-mediated immune responses and its role in infectious diseases and cancer. [Cancer biology, immunotoxicology]
Email: meadows@mail.wsu.edu
Website: http://www.pharmacy.wsu.edu/PharmSci/meadows.html

Mealey, Katrina, Associate Professor, Small Animal Medicine, Phone:335-2988; My primary research interest is pharmacogenetics, the study of genetic determinants of response to drug therapy. Most of my laboratory's current work focuses on the MDR1 polymorphism in herding breed dogs (Collies, Australian Shephers, Shelties, etc.), and its implications for multidrug sensitivity. Our laboratory is also beginning work to look at other breed-related adverse drug reactions in dogs.
Email: kmealey@vetmed.wsu.edu
Website: http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/people-vcs/faculty/mealey.asp

Meier, Kathryn E. Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy. Our laboratory has two major research foci, both of which concern the interplay between phospholipid metabolism and protein phosphorylation in signal transduction cascades. The goal is to identify new therapeutic targets for cancer therapy. The first project examines the role of phospholipid metabolism as a source of lipid mediators. Specifically, we are interested in the roles of phospholipase D and lysophospholipase D in generating lysophosphatidic acid (LPA). LPA promotes proliferation and survival of many cancer cells via binding to G-protein-coupled receptors. Our model systems are human prostate and ovarian cancer cell lines. The second project involves a study of phorbol ester response and resistance in lymphoma cells. Phorbol esters are natural products that mimic the action of endogenous lipid-derived mediators. These compounds activate protein kinase C and other signaling proteins via binding to specific domains. One aspect of this study involves an examination of the roles of adhesion proteins (e.g., focal adhesion kinase) in tumorigenesis. Both projects involve cellular, biochemical, and molecular techniques.
Email: kmeier@wsu.edu
Website: http://www.pharmacy.wsu.edu/PharmSci/meier.html

Quock, Raymond M., Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy. Pharmacology of anxiety and pain control; nitrous oxide and other anesthetic drugs; opioid and cannabinoid analgesic drugs; benzodiazepine anxiolytic agents; pharmacogenetics [Neuropharmacology, Neurotoxicology, Behavioral Pharmacology]
Email: quockr@wsu.edu
Website: http://www.pharmacy.wsu.edu/PharmSci/quock.html

Ritter Robert C., Professor, VCAPP, Phone: (509) 335-8114
Visceral sensation of the gastrointestinal tract. Control of hunger and satiety. Role of peptides and other neurohumors in transduction and transmission of sensory signals from the gastrointestinal tract to and through the central nervous system. (Neuropharmacology, Behavioral Pharmacology, Neuroanatomy)
Email: britter@vetmed.wsu.edu
Website:http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/research_vcapp/ritter-r.asp

Ritter W. Sue, Professor, VCAPP. ; Phone: (509) 335-8113
Availability of specific nutrients as signals controlling appetite and metabolism; identification of metabolic receptor cells that monitor nutrient availability and of neural pathways mediating feeding responses. (Neuroscience, Physiology).
Email:sjr@vetmed.wsu.edu
Website:http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/research_vcapp/ritter-s.asp

Simasko, Steven M., Professor, VCAPP. Molecular and cellular mechanisms of endocrine cell regulation. Experimental approaches include patch-clamp electrophysiology, single cell secretion measurements, and ion-sensitive fluorescent dyes. [Endocrinology, Pharmacology, Neuroscience]
Email: simasko@vetmed.wsu.edu Phone: (509) 335-6497
Website: http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/research_vcapp/simasko.asp

Sorg, Barbara A., Professor, VCAPP. One area of my study focuses on the influence of stress on brain alterations produced by repeated exposure to drugs of abuse, such as cocaine. A second area of focus is the development of an animal model for multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome, a mysterious illness in humans whereby chemicals in the home and workplace produce illness. The common theme between these two areas of study is the phenomenon of behavioral sensitization, and my studies focus on sensitization as well as the measurement of drug craving behavior in rats. [Neurobiology/Neuropharmacology].
Email: sorg@vetmed.wsu.edu Phone:335-4709
Website: http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/research_vcapp/sorg.asp

VCAPP: Dept. of Veterinary and Comparative Anatomy, Pharmacology & Physiology; College of Veterinary Medicine

 

 

 

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