Chemistry World: More Than a Mirror-Image: Left-Handed Nucleic Acids

Two double helixes of DNA, one appears normal and the other appears jagged and damaged.
February 20, 2024
The Division of Pharmacology & Toxicology's Karen Vasquez, Ph.D. talked to Chemistry World's Rachel Brazil on genetic instability in disease and evolution of course related to Z-DNA. Dr. Vasquez's research focuses on genome instability, DNA damage and mechanisms of repair.

Vasquez Writes in Nature Reviews Genetics on Alternative DNA Structures

"Nature Reviews Genetics" written inside of a circle.
November 1, 2022
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.

Faculty Earn State Grants for Cancer Research

A person in a lab.
September 21, 2022
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.

Research Provides Further Insight into Causes of Manganese-Induced Parkinsonism

A man smiling in a research lab.
September 7, 2021
Somshuvra Mukhopadhyay, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., associate professor in the Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology and Hamm Centennial Fellow in Pharmacy, and a team of researchers have released new findings defining the first homeostatic regulatory pathway for manganese in mammalian systems. Identifying these pathways opens up new possible options to prevent or treat manganese-induced parkinsonism and other disorders linked to elevated manganese exposure.

Vasquez Appears on BBC World Service to Discuss Z-DNA

DNA.
June 16, 2021
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.

Kompella Receives Fulbright Award for Postdoctoral Research

A woman smiling.
March 16, 2021
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.

Mukhopadhyay Wins Research Excellence Award

Dr. Mukhopadhyay standing in research laboratory surrounded by scientific equipment
September 10, 2020
Associate Professor Somshuvra Mukhopadhyay, M.B.B.S., Ph.D. wins the 2020 Co-op Research Excellence Award for Best Paper. The awards are presented each year by the Office of the Vice President for Research and the University Co-operative Society.

Richburg Receives NIH Grant Award for Toxicant Injury Research

A man smiling
August 10, 2020
Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies John H. Richburg, Ph.D. received notice from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarding him a research grant for a five-year term. The NIH’s grant award for Dr. Richburg’s research totals $2,694,316.

Existing drug may help fight against the lethality of E. coli infection

Som figure
June 26, 2019
New research from the lab of Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology’s Somshuvra Mukhopadhyay, M.B.B.S., Ph.D. may have discovered a way to repurpose an existing drug to fight the lethality of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infections.