College of Pharmacy News

Andrea C. Gore, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and toxicology and Vacek Chair in Pharmacology, recently earned an R35 RIVER grant award from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) for her lab’s research on endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and their effect on the brain. The NIEHS, which is one of the centers in the National Institutes of Health (NIH), awarded a total of $6,823,672 for eight years.

Kimberly J. Long, a Ph.D. candidate in the Dalby Lab in the Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, was a first author of a recent research paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Division Head and Professor of Pharmacology & Toxicology Karen Vasquez, Ph.D. published in the latest issues of Nature Reviews Genetics regarding repetitive elements in the human genome. Once considered "junk DNA," they are now known to adopt more than a dozen alternative DNA structures. These dynamic conformations can act as functional genomic elements involved in DNA replication and transcription, chromatin organization and genome stability.

The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) has released its grant research funding awards for the upcoming year. All three awarded research projects at The University of Texas at Austin involve College of Pharmacy faculty.

This summer, the office of Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion (DEAI), hosted two intensive summer research programs: Project Engage Pharmacy Program (PEPP) Camp and the Leadership Through Engagement For the Advancement of Diverse Educational Research (LEADER) Program.

The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) recently awarded grants to six faculty members at UT Austin, including the Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry's Kevin Dalby, Ph.D. for his Targeted Therapeutic Drug Discovery and Development Program.

Division Head and Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology Karen Vasquez, Ph.D. appeared on BBC World Service's Science in Action to talk about Z-DNA. Dr. Vasquez's research focuses on DNA damage and repair, genomic instability, gene targeting, DNA structure and cancer therapeutics.

M. Lynn Crismon, Pharm.D. has been named the recipient of the 2021 Distinguished Leadership Award from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Board of Directors. The award is one of the highest honors in the pharmacy profession.

Assistant Dean for Experiential and Professional Affairs Jennifer L. Ridings-Myhra, M.Ed., R.Ph. is 2021's recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Texas Society of Health-System Pharmacists (TSHP). It is the highest honor TSHP can bestow on an individual.

Three researchers from the College of Pharmacy won an award from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Foundation. Leticia R. Moczygemba, Pharm.D., Ph.D., Carolyn M. Brown, Ph.D. and Michael Johnsrud, Ph.D., R.Ph. were awarded $5,000 from the PhRMA Foundation for their proposal to advance racial and ethnic representation in value assessments.