White House Highlights UT Austin's Opioid Overdose Prevention Efforts

An image of the White House with "The White House Washington" written underneath.
March 13, 2024
The White House highlighted The University of Texas at Austin's pioneering opioid overdose prevention efforts through Operation Naloxone (now housed within UT's SHIFT initiatives) and the College of Pharmacy's PhARM Program in the Biden-Harris Administration's fact sheet for its challenge to save lives from overdose.

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.

Bold Pursuits in Health and Well-Being

Body and Soul: Bold pursuits in health and the arts. Includes an image of a large copper shell sculpture.
March 20, 2023
College of Pharmacy Dean Sam Poloyac participated in a panel discussion from the 2023 Texas Leadership Society Luncheon on The University of Texas at Austin's bold pursuits in health and well-being. The discussion was moderated by UT President Jay Hartzell.

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.

Pharmacists: The Most Accessible Healthcare Provider, Unless You Have a Substance Use Disorder

White pill bottle with white pills on a black background.
August 23, 2022
P4 students, Megan Yeung, Kami Johnston and Morgan Murchison co-author a peer-reviewed blog in Pulses encouraging educators to adapt to reflect the specific needs of people who use drugs and patients with substance use disorders. This blog also highlights UT Pharmacy as a U.S. leader in substance use disorder and harm reduction education for Pharm.D. students.

Fewer Than Half of U.S. Pharmacies Carry One of the Most Effective Drugs for Opioid Abuse

A pharmacist holding a box of medication.
June 13, 2022
Tara Law from Time writes about how few pharmacies carry buprenorphine, a life-saving drug to help treat opioid use disorder (OUD). Lucas Hill, Pharm.D., BCACP, director of the college's Pharmacy Addictions Research & Medicine (PhARM) program, offers his insight on the issue, and how the DEA's crackdown of the drug puts OUD patients at risk.

Opioid Use Disorder Paper Earns ACCP Award

A box of naloxone vials.
October 8, 2021
A paper from UT College of Pharmacy researchers was awarded the 2021 Outstanding Paper of the Year from the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Ambulatory Care Practice Research Network. The paper investigates the availability of buprenorphine and naloxone in Texas to treat opioid use disorder.

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.