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.

Jurata Thin Film, a startup based on the research discoveries of the College of Pharmacy's Maria Croyle, Ph.D., a professor in the Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery, is listed as a finalist in the 2023 SXSW Innovation Awards in Patient Safety. Researchers in Dr. Croyle's lab have developed a peelable lightweight film that stabilizes biologics, is inexpensive and withstands extreme temperature changes. Jurata Thin Film works to bring Dr. Croyle's thin film technology to market.

The newly-created UT Seed Fund, which will provide funds to the most promising new startups built on university-owned intellectual property, will first invest in Jurata Thin Film, a startup based on the research discoveries of the College of Pharmacy's Maria Croyle, Ph.D., a professor in the Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery. Founded in 2019, Jurata has revolutionized the way vaccines and biologics are manufactured, distributed, stored and delivered across the world.

Molecular Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery professor Maria A. Croyle, Ph.D. earned this year's Best Paper Award from the University Co-op Research Excellence Awards, presented by UT's Office of the Vice President for Research, Scholarship and Creative Endeavors and the University Co-operative Society.

Researchers in the lab of Dr. Robert O. (Bill) Williams III, Division Head and Professor of Molecular Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery at the College of Pharmacy, are advancing an innovative platform technology known as Thin Film Freezing, which could revolutionize administration, distribution and access to both vaccines and therapies.

UT Pharmacy and UT Health Science Center San Antonio Assistant Professor Grace C. Lee, Pharm.D., Ph.D. is the first author of a recently published study that unveiled a novel concept, “immunologic resilience,” to accurately predict which COVID-19 patients will advance to severe disease and which will not.

Division Head and Professor of Molecular Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery Dr. Bill Williams was on KXAN News to talk about promising new data from TFF Pharmaceuticals and Augmenta Bioworks. The companies plan to develop Dr. Williams' thin film freezing technology to better deliver antibody treatment directly to the lungs of COVID patients.

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.

Molecular Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery Professor Maria A. Croyle, Ph.D. received extensive coverage in the March 2021 edition of Texas Monthly regarding her innovative peelable film drug delivery research. Among its many potential applications, Dr. Croyle’s technology could deliver COVID-19 vaccines through a small oral strip, without need for refrigeration or extensive storage and transportation infrastructure.

Molecular Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery professor Maria A. Croyle R.Ph., Ph.D. earned 2021’s David Lehr Research Award from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET). Dr. Croyle will receive research funding to investigate novel regulatory mechanisms of drug metabolism in the context of active infection with SARS-CoV-2 and after recovery.