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College of Pharmacy

  • Dr. Igor Roninson

COBRE Center for Targeted Therapeutics

Research Projects

The Center for Targeted Therapeutics currently supports four research projects led by junior faculty members with expertise in cancer biology and genomics, signal transduction, metabolic diseases and nanotechnology-based drug delivery.

Current Research Projects

Juan Francisco Leon, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
College of Pharmacy

Research goal:  
To create novel CBD dimers that are specific to cannabinoid or serotonin receptors.

Mentors:  
Michael Wyatt, Ph.D.
Campbell McInnes, Ph.D.

Nicholas Truex, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
College of Arts and Sciences

Research goal:  
Create engineered transcription factors to induce expression of tumor antigens in vitro.

Mentors:
Igor Roninson, Ph.D.
Michael Shtutman, Ph.D.

Joseph McQuail, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
School of Medicine Columbia

Research Goal: 
Develop novel drugs targeting heteromeric NMDA receptors aimed at preventing or reversing age-related memory loss.

Mentors: 
Lawrence P. Reagan, Ph.D.
Kasper B. Hansen, Ph.D. 

Fiona Hollis, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
School of Medicine Columbia

Research Goal: 
Test whether chronic unpredictable stress induces excessive mitochondrial fragmentation via the elevation of glucocorticoids that increase Drp1 recruitment to the mitochondrial outer membrane in a receptor-specific manner. Then examine whether disruption of these specific Drp1-receptor interactions can prevent mitochondrial fragmentation and subsequent inflammation and downstream behavioral alterations.

Mentors: 
Norma Frizzell, Ph.D. 
Jeffrey Twiss, M.D., Ph.D. 

 
Prior Research Projects

Katie Kathrein, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences

Research Goal:
Find approaches to restoring the function of a tumor suppressor using a zebrafish model.

Mentors:
John Rawls, Ph.D.
Hippokratis Kiaris, Ph.D.

Yangmei Li, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences, College of Pharmacy

Research Goal: 
Generate potent and selective DDX3 inhibitors for the treatment of neurodegeneration.

Mentors: 
Campbell McInnes, Ph.D.
Jun Zhu, Ph.D.

Sajish Mathew, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences, College of Pharmacy

Research Goal:
Investigate Tyrosyl tRNA synthetase as a new target in Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Mentors:
Jeff Twiss, Ph.D.
Stephen J. Cutler, Ph.D.

Ozgur Sahin, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences, College of Pharmacy

Research Goal:
Overcoming in vivo resistance to chemotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer. 

Mentors:
Igor Roninson, Ph.D.
Phillip Buckhaults, Ph.D.

Eugenia Broude, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences, College of Pharmacy

Research Goal:
Develop new approaches to improving the efficacy of breast cancer therapy by combining targeted drugs with novel transcription-regulating kinase inhibitors.

Mentors: 
Hippokratis Kiaris, Ph.D.
Phillip Buckhaults, Ph.D.

Jing Fang, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Services, College of Pharmacy 

Research Goal:

Targeting of Gq/11 and calcineurin for leukemia therapy

Mentors: 
Igor Roninson, Ph.D.
Lorne Hofseth, Ph.D.

Mythreye Karthikeyan, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, College of Arts and Sciences 

Research Goal:
Validate and explore inhibin as a novel potential cancer target for antibody-based and small-molecule drugs.

Mentors:
Igor Roninson, Ph.D.
Hippokratis Kiaris, Ph.D.

Michy Kelly, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Pharmacology, Physiology & Neuroscience, USC School of Medicine

Research Goal:
Identify the molecular mechanisms that control Phosphodiesterase 11A (PDE11A) transcription and/or catalytic activity in order to reveal new opportunities for developing PDE11A-targeted therapeutics.

Mentors:
Igor Roninson, Ph.D.
Jim Fadel, Ph.D.

Norma Frizzell, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Pharmacology, Physiology & Neuroscience, USC School of Medicine

Research Goal:
Validate and explore a new metabolic target for genetic neuropathological diseases associated with aberrant mitochondrial function.

Mentors: 
Lawrence Reagan, Ph.D.

Peisheng Xu, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences, College of Pharmacy

Research Goal: 
Develop a highly selective and efficient system for drug delivery into the brain and test this system in a model of Alzheimer’s disease.

Mentors:
Qian Wang, Ph.D.
Mark Kindy, Ph.D.

Michael Shtutman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Drug Discovery and Biomedical Sciences, College of Pharmacy

Research Goal:
Develop an anti-cancer drug that kills both dividing and non-dividing tumor cells, while sparing normal tissues, by targeting coatomer protein complex.

Mentors:
Igor Roninson, Ph.D.
Kim Creek, Ph.D.

 


Challenge the conventional. Create the exceptional. No Limits.

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