College of Pharmacy News

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).

Two of the college's distinguished faculty in the Division of Health Outcomes and Division of Pharmacy Practice were recommended for promotion by President Hartzell due to their outstanding accomplishments in research, outreach and education. Dr. Tish Moczygemba will assume the rank of professor and Dr. Kristin Janzen will become a clinical associate professor.

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.

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.

Chemistry Assistant Professor Emily Que, Ph.D. and the College of Pharmacy’s Walt Fast, Ph.D. are working together to research new methods to fight against antibiotic resistance. The fluorescent chemical probe developed by Que and Fast may help find a different way to combat resistant bacteria.

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.

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.

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Edward (Ted) Mills, Ph.D., associate professor in the Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology and Bergen Brunswig Corporation Centennial Fellow.