Six students in the Biomolecular Pharmacology Program were honored at graduation ceremonies this past weekend for earning their M.A., Ph.D., or M.D./Ph.D. degrees. Our congratulations go to them for their academic accomplishments, their discoveries through thesis or dissertation research, and their acquisition of professional skills as scientists. Their achievements have been expertly guided by their advisors, whom we congratulate and thank for their dedication to predoctoral training. The students, their degrees, advisors, and thesis or dissertation titles are:

Amy Andreucci, M.A. (January)– Alan Herbert, MB.ChB, Ph.D.

Anti-Inflammatory Drugs: an Appropriate Option for Treating Obesity?

Diane Chan, M.D./Ph.D. – Benjamin Wolozin, M.D./Ph.D.

LRRK2 and HDAC6: Directing Traffic at the Crossroads between Authophagy, Translation, and Neurodegeneration

Jennifer Lynn Duffen, Ph.D. – Kenneth Walsh, Ph.D.

Adiponectin Receptors in Revascularization and Metabolic Dysfunction

Earl Gillespie, Ph.D. – Susan E. Leeman, Ph.D.

Colonic Epithelial Genes in the Transition From Chronic Inflammation to Carcinoma in Colitis-Associated Cancer: Focus on the Truncated Neurokinin-1 Receptor

Catherine Wei, M.D./Ph.D.– Jiang-Fan Chen, M.D./Ph.D.

The Effect of Brain Region-Specific Adenosine A_2A Receptor Knockout on Cognition and Psychomotor Behavior in Mice

Stefan Yohe, Ph.D. (January) – Mark Grinstaff, Ph.D.

Superhydrophobic Materials for Drug Delivery

Best wishes to these graduates for the next phase of their careers!

The DORA recommendations are critical for keeping science healthy. As a bottom line, the leaders of the scientific enterprise must accept full responsibility for thoughtfully analyzing the scientific contributions of other researchers. To do so in a meaningful way requires the actual reading of a small selected set of each researcher’s publications, a task that must not be passed by default to journal editors.” – Bruce Alberts

To learn more about the recommendations please click here. The original SAN FRANCISCO DECLARATION ON RESEARCH Assessment (DORA) is accessible here.

Anxiety disorders are a serious public health problem because they represent the most common mental disturbances in the United States and are responsible for almost one third of the total health care costs. In addition, depression often occurs together with anxiety disorder in patients.

In their study, the researchers were found to be able to induce feelings of anxiousness and depression in a preclinical model after administering PACAP. According to the researchers it was both surprising and very interesting to find that the same molecule could induce both anxious and depressive feelings.

Importantly, the scientists also found that the mechanism of the anxiety and depression-inducing effects of PACAP involves another important and well known molecule and hormone, called corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF). Indeed, when the authors provided PACAP to the model, they observed an increase in the production of CRF in two important regions of the brain, the hypothalamus and the amygdala. More importantly, when the authors introduced a substance that blocked the receptors of CRF, PACAP could no longer induce anxiety and depression.

“In humans, a dysfunction of the amygdala PACAP system may therefore be responsible for the development of conditions involving atypical responses to stressors, including generalized anxiety, PTSD and depression,” said senior study author Valentina Sabino, PhD, assistant professor of pharmacology and psychiatry in the Department of Pharmacology at BUSM as well as co-director of the Laboratory of Addictive Disorders

Also contributing to this study were Riccardo Dore, PhD; Attilio Lemolo, PhD, Karen L. Smith, PhD, Xiaofan Wang PhD and Pietro Cottone, PhD. The Laboratory of Addictive Disorders at Boston University School of Medicine is continuing this line of research to better understand the neurobiology of the PACAP system, with the hope of ultimately developing new therapeutic agents for the treatment of these debilitating psychiatric diseases.

Funding for this study was provided by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. In addition, funding was made available by the Peter Paul Career Development Professorship and by Boston University’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program.”

Originally published by Boston University School of Medicine

Anxiety disorders are a serious public health problem because they represent the most common mental disturbances in the United States and are responsible for almost one third of the total health care costs. In addition, depression often occurs together with anxiety disorder in patients.

In their study, the researchers were found to be able to induce feelings of anxiousness and depression in a preclinical model after administering PACAP. According to the researchers it was both surprising and very interesting to find that the same molecule could induce both anxious and depressive feelings.

Importantly, the scientists also found that the mechanism of the anxiety and depression-inducing effects of PACAP involves another important and well known molecule and hormone, called corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF). Indeed, when the authors provided PACAP to the model, they observed an increase in the production of CRF in two important regions of the brain, the hypothalamus and the amygdala. More importantly, when the authors introduced a substance that blocked the receptors of CRF, PACAP could no longer induce anxiety and depression.

“In humans, a dysfunction of the amygdala PACAP system may therefore be responsible for the development of conditions involving atypical responses to stressors, including generalized anxiety, PTSD and depression,” said senior study author Valentina Sabino, PhD, assistant professor of pharmacology and psychiatry in the Department of Pharmacology at BUSM as well as co-director of the Laboratory of Addictive Disorders

Also contributing to this study were Riccardo Dore, PhD; Attilio Lemolo, PhD, Karen L. Smith, PhD, Xiaofan Wang PhD and Pietro Cottone, PhD. The Laboratory of Addictive Disorders at Boston University School of Medicine is continuing this line of research to better understand the neurobiology of the PACAP system, with the hope of ultimately developing new therapeutic agents for the treatment of these debilitating psychiatric diseases.

Funding for this study was provided by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. In addition, funding was made available by the Peter Paul Career Development Professorship and by Boston University’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program.”

Originally published by Boston University School of Medicine

The following Biomolecular Pharmacology students received awards:

First Prize – Robert Freilich

Second Prize – Tara Vanderweyde

Honorable Mention – Tracey Tucker

For more information about the 19th Annual Henry I. Russek Student Achievement Day, please click here.

Hiro is involved in finding a cellular mechanism to understand how tau protein, a primary component of neurofibrillary tangles found in Alzheimer’s disease brain, start aggregation in the specific brain region (entorhinal cortex) and stereotypically disseminates to the other specific brain regions (hippocampal fields). This has been pathologically known for many years but the exact mechanism is yet to be understood. He will elucidate the role of microglia and exosomal pathways for the uptake and secretion of tau proteins using molecular and cellular approaches.

Before joining Dr. Ikezu’s laboratory, Hiro had over 10 years of experience as a clinical neurologist, the last two years of which he worked as a staff neurologist in Japan. During this period he was responsible for the care of over 1000 Alzheimer’s patients or other neurodegenerative disease patients. His research career started in 2003 when he pursued a PhD in neuroscience, which he was ultimately awarded in 2009 with his thesis on the “involvement of the DNA repair system in neurodegenerative diseases”.

Hiro says, “Before coming here, I was wondering whether to be a physician or a research scientist. My experience in Dr. Ikezu’s lab and in this department helped me realize that I would like to be a physician scientist. Although it is very difficult to balance the weight of a physician (neurologist) and neuroscientist, I sometimes hesitate to engage in two trades, but in the end I believe that the hints for research can be seen in patients.” He also says, “I am grateful that Dr. Ikezu has made the most of my experience as a neurologist in our basic research projects. Under his supervision, my career goal as a physician scientist is coming into my view. One of my aims in joining this department was to work with and learn from the researchers who devote themselves to science.”

Tara is a fourth-year graduate student in the Ph.D. Program in Biomolecular Pharmacology pursuing research in the Laboratory of Neurodegeneration under the mentorship of Dr. Benjamin Wolozin. Her research with cells, mice, and human tissue investigates the role of stress granules in normal aging as well as in Alzheimer’s Disease.

Congratulations, Tara!

Please visit Dr. Bryant’s webpage for more information on his research.

Dr. Singh is an associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics and the Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, Principal Investigator of the Laboratory for Cancer Pharmacogenomics and member of The Cancer Center. For more information on Dr. Singh’s research, please visit his webpage .

Established in 1998 in memory of Shih-Chun Wang, a renowned neuroscientist and pharmacology professor, this award recognizes an individual demonstrating outstanding promise in the field of central nervous system physiology. Dr. Wainford will be presented the award at the APS business meeting in April. The $4,000 cash award will support his research.

Please see Dr. Wainford’s faculty profile for more information on his research and the Laboratory of CardioRenal Research.