- December 2007: The Pharmaceutical Sciences Division welcomes new Assistant Professors Lara Collier and Paul Marker to its Drug Action Core. more...
- November 2007: The groundbreaking work of Professor Jon Thorson, Ph.D., Pharmaceutical Sciences Division, and the history of the Zeeh Pharmaceutical Station are dually highlighted in "Inherit the Weeds," by John Allen in the Winter 2007 edition of On Wisconsin. On Wisconsin Magazine is produced quarterly by the Wisconsin Alumni Association and University Communications and has a circulation over 300,000.
- November 2007: W. John Kao, professor in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Division, has been elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). The election recognizes Kao's exceptional contributions to medical and biological engineering and places him within the top two percent of the medical and biological engineering community comprising AIMBE. AIMBE is regarded as a prestigious public policy leader on issues impacting the medical and biological community and represents approximately 50,000 influential leaders across the globe. A formal acceptance of the election will take place at an induction ceremony at the Global Impact of Medical and Biological Engineering Annual Event February 20-22, 2008. For more information on AIMBE, see http://www.aimbe.org
- November 2007: A group led by Ben Shen, professor in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Division, and researchers at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York have modified a family of potent bioactive compounds known as enediynes to enhance their anticancer activity. The engineered enediynes may be shown to be therapeutically advantageous, especially in solid tumors. The work is highlighted in a news brief, "Enediynes Taught to Act Better" in the November 5, 2007 edition of Chemical & Engineering News. The full paper explaining the findings was published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
- October 2007: The research of Lian Yu and Mel de Villiers, professors in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Division, will benefit from an exceptional commitment from AstraZeneca towards the School's Pharmaceutical Sciences Graduate Program. AstraZeneca has generously agreed to provide three years of support towards research to study the stability and stabilization of amorphous drugs. The project will build on the discovery from the Yu and de Villiers research groups that surface crystallization is a major failure mechanism for amorphous drugs and that nano-meter thin coatings effectively inhibit surface crystallization.
- October 2007: Darin Furgeson, assistant professor in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Division, has been named a faculty member of the UW-Madison Biomedical Engineering Center for Translational Research. The Center supports collaborations between biomedical researchers and practicing physicians. The membership recognizes Furgeson's research efforts in developing solutions that address particular clinical problems or unmet clinical needs, a current priority of the National Institutes of Health. For more information on the Biomedical Engineering Center for Translational Research, see http://bmec.wisc.edu/
- October 2007: Darin Furgeson, assistant professor in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Division, was invited to present his lab's work to the Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory at the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Maryland. The mission of the Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory is to identify novel therapeutics with high translational potential to accelerate pre-clinical drug development. Professor Furgeson's group has also gained attention of industry with two invitations to present his latest work-- one at the Eastern Pharmaceutical Technology Meeting in Bridgewater, NJ and another at the 1st Annual Eli Lilly & Company Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology Symposium in Indianapolis.
- September 2007: Professor Jon Thorson, Ph.D., Pharmaceutical Sciences Division is among a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers who have created a new form of an enzyme capable of producing a range of potential new therapeutic agents with anticancer and antibiotics properties. more. The work has received attention in scientific journals including the September 9 issue of the journal Nature Chemical Biology, the September 17 issue of Chemical and Engineering News and with local media in the 'Discoveries' section of the September 16 edition of the Wisconsin State Journal.
- August 2007: The science of the laboratory of Professor Jon Thorson was featured in the August 2007 issue of Drug Discovery News. The article describes researchers attempting to breathe new life into antibiotics using glycorandomization.
- August 2007: Congratulations to Dr. Steven Van Lanen (senior research associate, laboratory of Professor Ben Shen). Dr. Van Lanen has accepted a position as an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy, beginning this fall. Best wishes, Steve!
- August 2007: The September 2007 edition of the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences named an article co-authored by Professor Glen Kwon as its third-most highly cited article in 2006. The article, "Amphiphilic Block Copolymers for Drug Delivery" J. Pharm. Sci., 92, 1343-1355, 2003 (Minireview) was written by Monica L. Adams, Afsaneh Lavasanifar, and Dr. Kwon.
- August 2007: The presentation at the Benzon Symposium in Copenhagen, Denmark in June and more recent work of Jon Thorson, Professor in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Division, was among the works highlighted in the Benzon Symposium article in the July 30, 2007 issue of Chemical and Engineering News. The Benzon Symposia are international conferences on front line research in medical, pharmaceutical and related sciences funded by the Alfred Benzon Foundation.
- August 2007: Pharmaceutical Sciences welcomes the arrival of new Assistant Professor Arash Bashirullah (Drug Action Core). Dr. Bashirullah, a native of Venezuela, completed postdoctoral research at the University of Utah’s Department of Human Genetics, under the direction of Professor Carl Thummel. Bashirullah’s research interests concentrate on the mechanisms that regulate the timing of biological processes during development. He earned his Ph.D. in Biology at the California Institute of Technology and his B.S. in Chemistry at the University of Winnipeg.
- July 2007: Dr. Marcelo Vargas, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Jeff Johnson, Professor in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Division, is one of four young investigators who will join the efforts to find effective therapies for ALS. Vargas received the very competitive Milton Safenowitz Post-Doctoral Fellowship for ALS Research with funding set to begin August 1.
- July 2007: The body's built-in detoxification system, what activates it, and the progression in muscle tissue is the most recent work of Jeff Johnson, professor in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Division, highlighted online at the The Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins. Johnson, a Packard Center researcher, is actively investigating a new therapeutic path that may shed light on boosting the body's natural ability to stave off the effects of debilitating diseases, such as ALS.
- Summer 2007: The Pharmaceutical Sciences Division welcomes Dr. Weiping Tang (Drug Discovery Core) as a new assistant professor. Dr. Tang received his B.S. and M.S. in chemistry from Peking University and New York University, respectively. He earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Stanford University, working under Professor Barry Trost. Prior to joining UW-Madison, Tang was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) postdoctoral fellow for Dr. Stuart Schreiber at Harvard University. Tang's research interests include the development of stereoselective and efficient synthetic methodologies, the synthesis of biologically active natural products, and the rational design of chemical probes for cell biology. Click here to learn more about Dr. Tang and his research.
- June 2007: The sugar research of Jon Thorson, Professor in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Division, continues to draw national attention as is was noted in the most recent issue of the scientific journal, Nature (see "BIOCHEMSTRY: A new last resort"). Local press has followed with articles in both The Capital Times and the Wisconsin State Journal
- June 2007: Nella Barshteyn, Pharmaceutical Sciences graduate student, was awarded one of the predoctoral positions on the Institutional Molecular and Environmental Toxicology Center Training Grant from the National Institute of Environmental and Health Sciences (NIEHS). Barshteyn is a member of the Elfarra Lab and began her traineeship on June 1, 2007.
- June 2007: Pharmaceutical Sciences graduate student James Dowell received a $6000 renewal of his predoctoral fellowship for 2007-08 from the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education (AFPE). Dowell is a member of the lab groups of Drs. Jeffrey Johnson and Lingjun Li.
- May 2007: Pharmaceutical Sciences Division Professor W. John Kao's work in healing wounds and Associate Professor Jeffrey Johnson's Alzheimer's research are highlighted in the June 2007 issue of Madison Magazine as recent recipients of the Wisconsin Governor's Business Plan Content, one of the only statewide, tech-based contests in the United States.
- May 2007: The sugar research of Jon Thorson, Professor in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Division, is the cornerstone of a Madison biotech start-up ( Centrose, LLC ) hoping to build a drug discovery franchise that leverages its chemistry expertise to improve a variety of existing and failed drugs. See Milwaukee Journal Sentinel coverage.
- May 2007: Pharmaceutical Sciences Assistant Professor Lingjun Li featured lecturer in the Waisman Spring 2007 Seminar Series. more
- May 2007: Professors Ben Shen, Jon Thorson, Richard Hsung and C. Richard Hutchinson are a key part of a project entitled “Wisconsin Infectious Disease Drug Discovery” funded through the Medical Education and Research Committee (MERC), which is responsible for distribution and stewardship of The Wisconsin Partnership funds. more
- April 2007: Associate professor Jeff Johnson's drug development technology is one step closer to being developed by Mithridion, Inc. The start-up company focusing on Alzheimer's disease was the recipient of the 2005 Governor’s Business Plan contest and most recently received news of substantial new funding from local investors. more
- April 2007: Ph.D. candidate May Xiong receives the prestigious Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA)/Postdoctoral Fellowship from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). more
- March 2007: Teaching Awards for 2006-2007 given to Assistant Professor Scott Rajski (Pharmacy Student Senate Teacher of the Year), Professor Warren Heideman (2nd-Yr PharmD Class) and Professor Emeritus Tom Rudy (Pharmacology/Toxicology) more
- February, 2007: Professor Sandro Mecozzi is part of a seven-member campus-wide team selected to receive a grant from the newly established Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery. Read more
- February, 2007: Article featuring Associate Professor Glen Kwon: Nanoscale packaging could aid delivery of cancer-fighting drugs
- January, 2007: Professor Tom Rudy retires following a 35-year School of Pharmacy career
- January, 2007: Fifth-year Pharmaceutical Sciences Graduate Student Joe Su is named the winner of a UW-Madison Campus-Wide Exceptional Service Teaching Assistant Award. Congratulations, Joe!!