College of Pharmacy News

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.

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.

The University of Texas at Austin community members won several Emerging Leaders Spotlight Awards during the recent chapter meeting of the Texas Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (TADOHE). The inaugural awards seek to highlight and acknowledge individuals in higher education who actively support TADOHE’s mission and diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion (DEAI) as a whole.

Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology researcher Pallavi Kompella, Ph.D. has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award to research at the Biomedical Research Institute of Málaga in Spain.

The UT College of Pharmacy received the 2020 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education.

Join Assistant Dean of Diversity and Inclusion Skyller Walkes, Ph.D. and Russell Boyd II on Wednesday, September 16 at 5 p.m. CT for an online discussion about the power of your vote. Boyd is an activist, organizer, and currently serves as the National Field Organizer with the NAACP Youth & College Division.

In addition to numerous statements, resources, and ways to support Black, Indigenous and People of Color, UT College of Pharmacy Assistant Dean of Diversity and Inclusion Skyller Walkes, Ph.D. hosted a long overdue virtual forum discussion on June 16 that synthesized these many feelings and concerns.

Skyller Walkes, Ph.D. introduces herself as the new Assistant Dean of Diversity and Inclusion at The University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy.

College of Pharmacy Professor Karen M. Vasquez, Ph.D. recently collaborated on a research paper exploring the mechanisms involved in DNA structure-induced genetic instability in human disease. “Mechanisms of genetic instability caused by (CGG)n repeats in an experimental mammalian system” recently published in Nature, and includes co-authors Artem V. Kononenko, Thomas Ebersole, and Sergei M. Mirkin from Tufts University.